Gingival Hyperplasia: A Collateral Damage Due To Various Drugs

Gingival hyperplasia or gingival enlargement is abnormal overgrowth of gingiva around the teeth, arising most likely as a side effect of conventional medications for controlling seizures, high blood pressure, immunosuppressants often referred as Drug Induced Gingival Hyperplasia (DIGH). It causes swelling, bleeding, difficulty with chewing and pronunciation. Long-term use of these drugs has been linked to overexpression of several chemokines and interleukins, causing gingival overgrowth as an aftereffect. It is still largely unknown how the fibroblasts proliferate during the period of drug administration and what kind of morphological changes occur when the drug accumulates in the cell cytoplasm. This paper reviews the current literature surrounding the various drugs and their impact on gingival enlargement that in turn affects the oral hygiene of patients receiving the medications and ways to rectify the damage.