Abstract
Ciclosporin (CYA), originally termed “Cyclosporin A”, is a powerful immunosuppressant used in organ transplant procedures for preventing rejection. One of the side effects of this drug is gingival hyperplasia. This study was designed to investigate the side effects of CYA on the periodontal tissue of Japanese pediatric patients following liver transplantation. The experimental group contained nine children between 2 to 14 years of age, with a mean age of 6.10 years. The control group contained eleven healthy children randomly selected with a mean age of 7.0 years.
The CYA group showed statistically significant increases in probing pocket depth, gingival index and the severity of gingival hyperplasia. There were no significant differences in plaque index and calculus index between the CYA group and the control group. The relationship between the five dental factors (probing pocket depth, gingival index, plaque index, calculus index and the severity of gingival hyperplasia) and the three CYA factors (trough level with CYCLO-Trac technique, oral dose and the days after transplantation) were estimated. There was no signifficant correlation between any of the CYA factors and any of the dental factors measured.
