This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Brian Vastag

JAMA. 2002;287:2494.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

With assistance from a large Brazilian family, researchers have discovered a gene involved in hereditary gingival fibromatosis, a rare form of gum overgrowth. Pinning the disease to a mutation could also help dentists find treatments for nonhereditary enlarged gums, common in older adults and in patients taking certain medications, said the researchers. Gingival overgrowth affects about 15% of people who take calcium channel blockers, widely prescribed for hypertension, and nearly 30% of people taking cyclosporine, which is taken for immunosuppression (J Dent Res. 2000;79:1758-1764).

The search for the mutated gene began in 1992 when a woman asked a dentist at the University of Taubaté, Brazil, dental clinic to cut away her overgrown gingiva. Taubaté periodontal researchers Deborah Pallos, DDS, and José Roberto Cortelli, DDS, suspected her condition was hereditary.

Collaborating with Thomas Hart, PhD, DDS, of the University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine, the Brazilians compiled . . . [Full Text of this Article]

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?