GENERAL PROFILE OF THE GINGIVAL LESIONS PRESENTED BY EPULIS: AN ANALYSIS OF 90 CASES

Abstract

<h3>Background</h3> Epulis is a nonspecific historical term applied to localized enlargement of gingiva. Although gingival enlargement often develops because of simple reactive lesions, it sometimes may also be the clinical presentation form of malignant and benign neoplastic lesions. <h3>Objective and Methods</h3> A total of 90 cases with a clinical diagnosis of "epulis" were included in the study. Histopathologic findings of the cases were analyzed with demographic and clinical information. <h3>Results</h3> Of the 90 patients, 65 were female (72.2%) and 25 were male (27.8%). The mean age was 40.13 ± 18.04 years (range, 6 days to 78 years) and about one-third of cases were discovered in the fifth decade. The most frequent localization was mandibular gingiva (50 cases) compared to the maxillary gingiva. Histopathologically, reactive lesions were detected in the vast majority of cases and only 11 cases had a neoplastic lesion (12.2%). The most detected reactive lesion was peripheral giant cell granuloma (38.9%), followed by focal fibrous hyperplasia (35.6%) and pyogenic granuloma (13.3%). Of the 11 neoplastic lesions, 6 benign tumors (2 congenital granular cell tumor, 1 lipoma, 1 osteoma, 1 peripheral developing odontoma, and 1 peripheral ossifying fibroma) and 5 malignant tumors (2 Langerhans cell histiocytosis, 1 malignant melanoma, 1 mucoepidermoid carcinoma, and 1 osteosarcoma) were diagnosed. <h3>Conclusions</h3> In our study, neoplastic lesions were detected in 12.2% of patients and the risk of malignancy was determined as 5.5% in lesions presented by epulis. Histopathologic examination is a gold standard for differentiation of such lesions.