COCAINE-ASSOCIATED RAPID GINGIVAL RECESSION AND DENTAL EROSION - A CASE-REPORT

THIS CASE REPORT CHRONICLES the clinical presentation and unusual resp onse to treatment of a patient with rapid gingival recession and denta l erosion secondary to local cocaine application. The initial clinical diagnosis was necrotizing ulcerative periodontitis; only after severa l years of therapy did the patient voluntarily inform one of the thera pists that cocaine had been regularly applied to the affected gingival sites. This case illustrates the importance of including cocaine appl ication to gingival tissues in a differential diagnosis in cases of ra pid gingival recession and dental erosion of unknown etiology.