Ossifying fibroma from surgical excision to periodontal management: case report

Peripheral ossifying fibroma is one of the commonly occurring reactive benign lesions that occurs in the gingiva, predominantly in females, especially in the anterior maxillary region of young women and in pediatric patients. It causes unsatisfactory esthetics, difficulty in maintaining good oral hygiene and difficulty in mastication.The importance of this clinical case is to emphasize the interest of early management of the residual defect after the removal of the gum growth. A 39-year-old female patient was referred to the clinical department of periodontology, with the chief complaint of bleeding gingiva, unsatisfactory esthetics and gum growth on the interproximal area in relation to left maxillary canine and premolar region, with the size ~2 cm×1.5 cm. This article describes an atypical case of peripheral ossifying fibroma with the clinical, histopathologic, and radiographic features in the posterior maxilla in an adult female patient. Treatment consisted of complete surgical excision, gingival curettage, and management of keratinezed gingiva by utilizing laterally displaced flap. Clinical healing was satisfactory at 2 weeks, and excellent coverage of residual mucogingival defect with no evidence of recurrence was achieved 3 weeks postoperatively. The patient was satisfied with case resolution with a follow-up of 1 year. Although surgical excision is the treatment of choice, sometimes it may induce residual soft tissue defect, which may further precipitate functional and esthetic discrepancies if not managed.