Photographic scoring of gingival overgrowth

Background: A wide range of methods have been employed to determine the sev erity of gingival overgrowth resulting in uncertainty regarding the prevale nce of the side-effect. There is no simple, non-invasive, objective, blind method for assessing gingival overgrowth. Aim: This article aims to describe a method which is suitable for use in la rge-scale population studies. Materials and Methods: Photographs were taken of the anterior, buccal gingi vae and teeth of 925 patients medicated with calcium channel blockers. In a ddition, each patient was ascribed a clinical gingival overgrowth score. 10 0 patients had repeat photographs, and a further 10 patients had alginate i mpressions taken. The models were scored for severity of gingival overgrowt h using a described technique. The slides were scored using a modification of this technique. Results: When photographic and study model scores were compared, photograph ic scores were consistently higher, and as a result, a photographic score o f 38.6% was considered to represent a significant overgrowth. There was goo d agreement between clinically determined scores and photographic scores (k appa =0.71). Conclusions: The results indicate that this method is suitable for large-sc ale population studies where it also has the advantage of providing a conti nuous scale of gingival changes for subsequent statistical analysis.