Clinical assessment of gingival size among patients treated with diltiazem

• Published in: Oral surgery, oral medicine, oral pathology, oral radiology and endodontics oral medicine, oral pathology, oral radiology and endodontics, 1995-03, Vol.79 (3), p.300-304
• Main Authors: Bullon, Pedro, Machuca, Guillermo, M-Sahuquillo, Angel, Rojas, Jose, Lacalle, Juan R., Rios, Jose V., Velasco, Eugenio
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Analysis of Variance; Dental Plaque Index; Diltiazem - adverse effects; Female; Gingival Hyperplasia - chemically induced; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Myocardial Ischemia - drug therapy; Periodontal Index; Regression Analysis
• ISSN: 1079-2104; 1528-395X
• DOI: 10.1016/S1079-2104(05)80223-9

Gingival overgrowth induced by nifedipine has been extensively reported. This finding, however, does not apply to gingival size changes caused by other calcium antagonists such as diltiazem. We studied the gingiva of 13 subjects with ischemic cardiopathy who had been treated with diltiazem and established two control groups: (1) a healthy group of 12 patients and (2) a group of 10 patients with ischemic cardiopathy and concomitant treatment similar to that applied to the diltiazem group except that they had not been administered any type of calcium antagonists. The size of the gingiva around the six anterior teeth was measured on plaster models of the upper and lower jaws. Significantly higher scores of the size of the gingiva were found when patients treated with diltiazem were compared with the patients in the other two groups ( p