Relationship of cyclosporine and gingival overgrowth

Cyclosporine is used as an immunosuppressive agent in organ transplantation. It has several side effects including gingival overgrowth. We evaluated 30 renal transplant patients on cyclosporine for the degrees of the gingival overgrowth. All the patients were males with mean age of 37.5 years. Eighteen patients (60%) had moderate to severe degrees of gingival overgrowth. No correlation was found with the trough levels of cyclosporine in blood. We conclude that gingival overgrowth is associated with cyclosporine immunosuppressive therapy but may not be dose related. The effect of other factors such as dental plaque and oral hygiene should be further studied.