Bohn's nodules are smooth whitish bumps or cysts which are sometimes found in the mouths of newborns. They are found at the junction of the hard

Hard palate

The hard palate is a thin horizontal bony plate of the skull, located in the roof of the mouth. It spans the arch formed by the upper teeth.It is formed by the palatine process of the maxilla and horizontal plate of palatine bone....

 and soft palate

Soft palate

The soft palate is the soft tissue constituting the back of the roof of the mouth. The soft palate is distinguished from the hard palate at the front of the mouth in that it does not contain bone....

, and along lingual

Lingual

Lingual may refer to:* Rap Crew, LINGUAL, an underground widespread hip-hop group from Berlin, Germany. The Group was founded in 2010 with their former member Freddy K. Their music is based on oldschool features with mixtures of Rap, Funk and Jazz and consists of 4 members, Sam-Which, Kurt...

 and buccal

Buccal

Buccal may refer to:* Mouth, a body cavity** Specifically the cheek* Buccal artery...

 parts of the dental ridges, away from the midline. These nodule

Nodule (medicine)

For use of the term nodule in dermatology, see Nodule In medicine, a nodule refers to a relatively hard, roughly spherical abnormal structure....

s are 1-3 mm in size, and filled with keratin

Keratin

Keratin refers to a family of fibrous structural proteins. Keratin is the key of structural material making up the outer layer of human skin. It is also the key structural component of hair and nails...

.

These nodules are epithelial

Epithelium

Epithelium is one of the four basic types of animal tissue, along with connective tissue, muscle tissue and nervous tissue. Epithelial tissues line the cavities and surfaces of structures throughout the body, and also form many glands. Functions of epithelial cells include secretion, selective...

 remnants of salivary gland

Salivary gland

The salivary glands in mammals are exocrine glands, glands with ducts, that produce saliva. They also secrete amylase, an enzyme that breaks down starch into maltose...

 tissue. They are benign, and usually disappear within the first three months of life. Bohn's nodules are similar in appearance to Epstein's pearls

Epstein's pearls

Epstein's pearls are small white or yellow cystic vesicles often seen in the median palatal raphe of the mouth of newborn infants . They are typically seen on the roof of the mouth and are filled with fluid...

, which develop on the roof of the mouth.

Bohn's nodules are named after German pediatrician Heinrich Bohn (1832-1888), author of Die Mundkrankheiten der Kinder (Mouth Diseases of Children).