Background: Gingival overgrowth is an adverse drug reaction (ADR) well known with phenytoin, cyclosporine or calcium channel blockers but can be related to other drugs.
Aim: We reviewed spontaneous notifications of drug-induced gingival overgrowth (DIGO), in France.
Material & methods: We selected DIGO cases registered in the French Pharmacovigilance Database, between 1984 and 2010.
Results: We found 147 DIGO cases (0.04% of all cases), most of them (86.4%) "non serious". Patients were more frequently men (58.5%) and between 40 and 69 years (58.5%). Evolution was favourable in 47.5% of cases. The most frequently "suspected" drugs were calcium channel blockers (30.6%) followed by immunosuppressants (15.2%) and anticonvulsants (10.1%). The DIGO was also reported with drugs for which the ADR was "unlabelled" (mycophenolate mofetil, valproic acid, clarithromycin, ethynylestradiol, levonorgestrel, desogestrel, etc.). There were two peaks of occurrence (0-3 and >12 months) for immunosuppressants or calcium channel blockers and only one (>12 months) for anticonvulsants.
Conclusion: Gingival overgrowth is often a "non serious" ADR but evolution was favourable in only half of cases. This ADR is "labelled" for calcium channel blockers, cyclosporine and phenytoin but can also occur with other immunosuppressants or anticonvulsants, antibiotics, oral contraceptives, etc.
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons A/S.