We describe a melanin-pigmented calcifying odontogenic cyst that arose in the right side of the mandible in a 12-year-old boy and review previously reported cases of similar melanin-pigmented lesions. The patient was referred to our department for evaluation and treatment of gingival swelling. A computed tomographic scan showed a calcifying lesion with in a cystic lesion measuring 31×22mm. The lesion was excised under general anesthesia, and the pathological diagnosis was a melanin-pigmented calcifying odontogenic cyst. Areas of melanin pigmentation were stained blackish-brown with hematoxylin-eosin stain and were most common not only inside but also around ghost cells. Nearly all reported cases of melanin-pigmented calcifying odontogenic cysts have occurred in Asians and blacks, and there have been only a few cases in whites. Racial factors are reported to play an important role in melanin pigmentation.