Palatal biopsy specimens were obtained from patients with denture stomatitis. The fatty acids were extracted from the tissue, then separated, identified, and quantified by a gas-chromatographic technique. The sensitivity of this method enabled analyses of specimens with a wet weight of less than 1 mg. The concentration of the fatty acids C16: 1(n-7) and C24: 1(n-9) differed significantly between samples from hyperplastic and clinically healthy tissue in the denture stomatitis patients. By comparing specimens from denture stomatitis patients and non-denture subjects, the concentration of seven fatty acids, two saturated and five unsaturated, was found to be significantly different. A multivariate data-analytical method distinguished between the fatty acid composition in specimens from denture stomatitis patients and from non-denture subjects.