Abstract

The aim of this work is to report the clinical presentation and management of pregnancy epulis (PE) among pregnant women that attended ante-natal clinic in Barau Dikko Teaching Hospital, Kaduna, Northern, Nigeria. Three hundred and twenty self-administered, structured questionnaires were administered to pregnant women that attended ante-natal clinic in Barau Dikko Teaching Hospital, Kaduna. Intraoral examination was done for all that filled the questionnaire. The study was done from January 2018 to July 2018. Eight cases (2.5%) of pregnancy epulis were diagnosed among 320 pregnant women. The age of the women ranged between 23 to 34 years with mean age ±28.5 years (SD=3.9); four (50%) were in their third trimester, three (37%) in their second trimester and one (12.5%) was in her first trimester of pregnancy. Five (62.5%) occurred in the anterior gingiva of the maxillary teeth, and two (25%) mandibular anterior gingivae and one (12.5%) at the mandibular posterior gingivae. The prevalence of PE from this study was one pregnant woman among forty, ratios 1:40. Our treatment modalities included: Oral hygiene prophylaxis and surgical excision of the tumour under local anaesthesia. There is need to pay attention to plaque control in pregnant women to reduce the incidence and prevent complications that may arise from the tumour such as life threatening haemorrhage. All pregnant women should have routine oral hygiene prophylaxis to reduce incidence of pregnancy epulis.

Key words: Pregnancy, epulis, gingivae, women, tumour, Kaduna.