Prevalence of Gingival Overgrowth Induced by Calcium Channel Blockers: A Community‐Based Study

Abstract

The prevalence of clinically significant overgrowth related to chronic medication with calcium channel blockers is low, i.e., 6.3% for nifedipine. Males are 3 times as likely as females to develop clinically significant overgrowth. The presence of gingival inflammation is an important cofactor for the expression of this effect.

The Oral Cavity State in Renal Transplant Recipients

“…Studies show that the prevalence of gingival hyperplasia is three times more common in men (4,29) compared to women as revealed in our study (4 males: 1 female) as well as in younger age groups (9,25). This can be explained by a stronger inflammatory response, poor oral hygiene and hormonal imbalance in renal transplant patients (26).…”

Drug Induced Gingival Overgrowth: A Rare Case Report

“…However, gingival overgrowth is well documented unwanted effect A 3-month interval for periodontal maintenance therapy has been recommended for patients taking drugs associated with gingival enlargement [2]. A programme of intense oral hygiene helped to reduce the gingival inflammation in the present case.…”

“…Among calcium channel blockers, nifedipine, a first generation calcium channel blocker causes gingival overgrowth in about 20% of patients, whereas the incidence of amlodipine-, a third generation calcium channel blocker, induced gingival hyperplasia is very limited. The prevalence of amlodipine-induced gingival hypertrophy has been shown to be between 1.7% and 3.3% [2,3].…”

Influence of diltiazem in combination with a sucrose-rich diet on gingival alterations in rats

“…Most studies that evaluated diltiazem-induced gingival enlargement in humans [4][5][6][7] had to deal with a heterogenous sample regarding age, duration of drug use, dose and other variables. Therefore, further research using animal models should be undertaken to evaluate the behavior of gingival tissue after long-term use of diltiazem, in order to evaluate other mechanisms that might be involved in gingival overgrowth, not only gingival infl ammation.…”

“…2,3 On the other hand, there are few reports of diltiazeminduced gingival overgrowth in humans. [4][5][6][7] The fi ndings of a recent study 8 showed that in rats with noninfl amed gingival tissue, diltiazem did not induce gingival overgrowth. Nevertheless, the pathogenesis of drug-induced gingival enlargement is uncertain and confl icting and has been related to several factors, namely age, gender, treatment duration, plasmatic and salivary drug concentration, presence of bacterial biofi lm, gingival tissue infl ammation, genetics and synergism with other medicaments.…”