Fast Facts: Perio Edition Episode 44
[Andrew Johnston, RDH]
Welcome back everyone! You are listening to another episode of Fast Facts- Perio Edition brought to you by A Tale of Two Hygienists in partnership with DentistRX. And now, please welcome your host, Katrina Sanders.
[Katrina Sanders, RDH]
Hello and welcome to Fast Facts: Perio Edition, we're going to conclude the conversation around looking at non dental biofilm induced gingival cases. Over the past several weeks, we looked at gingivitis, specifically looking at patients that can either have biofilm or non dental biofilm induced gingivitis. And this week, we're going to look at patients specifically who present with non dental biofilm induced gingivitis associated with traumatic lesions or hypersensitivity reactions.
So remember, these are going to be patients, for example, that present with some type of an inflammatory condition in their oral cavity. However, for these particular types of patients, they present with this inflammatory condition not associated with biofilm. And in order to look at hypersensitivity reactions, we're going to look first at patients that can present with a contact allergy. These are going to be patients that may have some type of a reaction due to dental restorative materials. These could be patients that are reacting to their toothpaste, their mouthwash, some type of a food, and most oftentimes these are patients that are presenting with a type 4 delayed contact, hypersensitivity reaction.
We can also have patients that present with what's called plasma cell gingivitis, it's not common, but this particular type of a condition affects the anterior maxillary gingiva. And some research indicates that plasma cell gingivitis is associated with some type of a hypersensitivity reaction to an antigen. Other researchers have actually said no, there's no distinct pathology associated with this. But the reality is these are patients that present with this inflammatory condition in the maxillary gingival anterior region. And this particular type of a response requires some advanced hypersensitivity testing.
Finally, we look at patients that present with erythema multiform. Now, this is going to take us back to pathology again. I know how much you love pathology, but erythema multiform is not very common as well. But this is an immune inflammatory disorder, particularly of the oral mucosa, but also it can be of the face as well. Ideologically, we still don't really understand where it comes from, but we believe that it's some type of hypersensitivity reaction associated with a presence of T lymphocytes. We believe that the challenge of associated with erythema multiform is that in many cases it can look like a herpes simplex or pneumonia. And so really it's important for us to ensure that any time that we see an unresolved transient inflammatory lesion in the oral cavity, that we're considering a referral for biopsy. One final piece that I wanted to add on before we conclude today's discussion and the Fast Facts discussion around non dental biofilm induced gingivitis is to share that in some cases some patients can present with persistent enlargement of the soft tissue, and this enlargement would be called a granulomatosis inflammatory conditions. These are a granulomatosis that can be associated with systemic conditions like tuberculosis or Crohn's disease. These are changes in which we begin to see shifts or movement of the soft tissue, again, not necessarily due to the presence of biofilm, but rather the presence of clinical disorders or allergic reactions. Thank you for tuning in this week for another episode of Fast Facts: Perio Edition. Stay tuned next week as we move forward in the discussion around the AAP classification system, moving into discussing diseases of the periodontium and more specifically, periodontitis. Have a wonderful week.
This has been another episode of Fast Facts - Perio Edition with Katrina Sanders, RDH. Please feel free to reach me on Instagram @thedentalwinegenist or on my website www.KatrinaSanders.com Cheers.
[Andrew Johnston, RDH]
Thank you for listening to another episode of Fast Facts - Perio Edition, brought to you in part by DentistRX makers of the InteliSonic line of power brushes. Find out more by visiting their website at www.dentistrx.com. We'll see you next week for another Fast Fact!
