1Associate Professor, Department of Periodontics, Institute of Dental Sciences, Siksha O Anusandhan (Deemed to be University), Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India
2Professor & Head, Department of Oral Medicine & Maxillofacial Radiology, Institute of Dental Sciences, Siksha O Anusandhan (Deemed to be University), Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India
3Associate Professor, Department of Periodontics, Institute of Dental Sciences, Siksha O Anusandhan (Deemed to be University), Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India
4Post Graduate Trainee, Department of Oral Medicine & Maxillofacial Radiology, Institute of Dental Sciences, Siksha O Anusandhan (Deemed to be University), Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India
*Corresponding Author: Dr. Satya Ranjan Misra, Professor & Head, Department of Oral Medicine & Maxillofacial Radiology, Institute of Dental Sciences, Siksha O Anusandhan (Deemed to be University), Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India, e-mail: satyamisra@soa.ac.in
Online published on 27 March, 2020.
The mouth is considered as a mirror of the body reflecting the changes both in health and in disease. It is well known that certain systemic diseases are diagnosed due to their characteristic appearance in the oral cavity. The gingiva is enlarged due to many systemic conditions and diseases including pregnancy, hormonal variations, drugs, hypersensitivity, infections, as well haematologic malignancies. Gingival enlargement has been linked to leukaemia and that too as an early diagnostic indicator of this possibly fatal disease, which when identified early can help reducing the morbidity and mortality by referral to haemato-oncologist and initiation of chemotherapy. Leukaemia is a haematologic malignancy arising from production of anomalous haemopoietic stem cells with uncontrolled regulations, differentiation and apoptosis. We report a case of leukemic gingival enlargement in a young male patient with a brief discussion on the mechanism and clinical features.
Diagnostic indicator, gingival enlargement, leukaemia, systemic disease
