The gingiva is one of the important components of a smile that may be subjected to aesthetic distortion because of the presence of black pigments that give an unbeautiful and sometimes strongly visible appearance to people with a gummy smile.
Usually, these pigments are between black and dark brown because of the increased secretion of melanin in the gums, but the reasons for this may be one of the following:
1-physiological such as ethnic differences, where people with darker skin color have more dark pigmentations.
2- pathological as in Addison’s disease, Albright’s syndrome, Acromegaly, and Nelson’s diseases.
3- Accumulation of minerals in tissues gums, such as iron and mercury, silver and gold.
4- Some drugs such as chloroquine, minocycline, zidovudine, chlorpromazine, and others.
These pigments also spread among smokers, as smoking increases the activity of melanin-producing cells (Melanocytes) and thus the accumulation and appearance of pigments.
Most of what we encounter in the oral and dental clinics of gingival depigmentation are the physiological pigments that spread in our Arab society because of the relatively dark skin and they are usually treated with surgery where the surface layer of the discolored gingiva is scraped so that the gingiva then healed and pink tissues which free of melanin appear, usually, This is done either with conventional surgery or using a laser. Our clinic has a modern laser device from the American company Biolase.
The procedure takes place within half an hour under the influence of local anesthesia and without any bleeding or post-treatment pain. As for the aesthetic result, it appears after a week of healing the gingiva and building healthy pink tissues.
