OBJECTIVE: Assess the influence of cyclosporine on the gingival growth of 60 patients with kidney transplant through a research carried out at the Hospital Cajuru in Curitiba, (April to October of 2002). METHODS: Regardless of age, gender, ethnic or social condition, all patients received cyclosporine daily and had, at least, one dental segment. They monthly returned to the Hospital for medical control and for several laboratory exams, among them the cyclosporine serum level. This permitted observation of these cases, especially with respect to the reaction of gingival growth. Clinical dental exams of the patients comprised filling out a form on their personal data, height and weight and number of dental segments. Also an observation of the degree of the gingival and bacterial plaque index was recorded. These data were treated statistically. RESULTS: Of the patients treated only with cyclosporine, 47.2% showed no alterations of the gingival structure while 52.8% presented gingival growth, of them 33.3% with a > 2 degree. Of the patients treated with both cyclosporine and nifedipine, 33.3% had a normal gingiva and 66.7% presented gingival growth. In 45.8% of them, the alteration was of > 2 degree, with no significant difference between results of the male and female patients. A positive correlation between excess fat and the corrected cyclosporine dose and serum concentration per unit of Body Mass Index was found, also between excess fat and the bacterial plaque index. A significant association between the extent of increased gingival growth and the bacterial plaque index was also observed. CONCLUSION: Use of cyclosporine when associated with nifedipine brings about an increase of gingival growth.
Gingival growth; Cyclosporine
