A 62-year-old man with a background of type 2 diabetes mellitus presented to the emergency department (ED) with a 5-day history of dental pain, progressive right facial swelling, trismus, dysphagia and voice changes. The oropharynx could not be directly examined completely due to trismus. The patient had a National Early Warning Score of 0 and so was triaged into the ‘minors’ section of ED. Following assessment by the on-call oral and maxillofacial surgeon, an urgent contrast-enhanced CT demonstrated a large parapharyngeal collection, which required urgent anaesthetic and surgical intervention. The patient developed pulmonary complications postoperatively, but eventually made a full recovery.

Inflammatory pseudotumour (IP), also known as inflammatory myofibroblastic tumour (IMT), is a rare lesion of the maxillofacial skeleton and a diagnosis by exclusion. We describe three cases which affected the maxilla, two women and one man of ages 67, 56 and 70 years at presentation. All showed the typical, rather non-specific histopathological features. IgG4-positive plasma cells varied greatly in prominence, and none of the three lesions expressed ALK-1. Both women responded to steroids and radiotherapy, though one also required azathioprine. Despite maxillectomy, radiotherapy, steroids and cyclophosphamide, the man suffered intracranial spread and succumbed to persistent disease. The cases described here demonstrate the clinicopathological difficulties presented by this entity and its aggressive, unpredictable behaviour.

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