Correlation of Clinically Desquamative Gingivitis and Histopathology at a Private College Hospital in Chennai, India - A Retrospective Study

Abstract

Desquamative gingivitis is an elucidating term used to demonstrate epithelial desquamation erythema,
erosions and vesiculobullous lesions. It is a clinical manifestation that can be caused by several systemic
disorders. Detection and differentiation between conditions that manifest desquamative gingivitis has
been a continuing problem. Accurate clinical, histologic and serologic investigations are often required to
differentiate among desquamative gingivitis disorder. This study focuses on understanding the correlation
between clinically desquamative gingivitis and the histopathological reports. A retrospective cross-sectional
study was conducted using the patient records from the department of periodontics and oral pathology,
Saveetha Dental College from June 2019- April 2020 and patients who underwent treatment for desquamative
gingivitis were selected by nonprobability sampling Microsoft Excel® 2016 (Microsoft office 10) data
spreadsheet was used to collect data and later exported to SPSS® statistical package for social sciences
for Windows ( version 20.0, SPSS Inc, Chicago IU, USA). From the data analyzed it is observed that the
overall incidence of desquamative gingivitis was higher in females (60%) predominantly in the age group of
(51-60) years (50%). The most predominant histopathology report diagnosed Oral lichen Planus (70%). The
correlation between clinical diagnosis and histopathology reports was statistically significant with p<0.05.
Within the limits of the study, a significant number of patients with desquamative gingivitis had a female
predilection predominantly in the age group of 50-60 years. The most common histopathology report of
clinically desquamative gingivitis was Oral Lichen Planus. As clinically suggestive desquamative gingivitis
may be an initial symptom of a systemic disease, the need for biopsy as a diagnostic tool should be made
mandatory