Correlating skin color with gingival pigmentation patterns in South Indians - a cross sectional study

Melanin pigmentation of the gingiva occurs in all ethnicities. Excessive pigmentation is an esthetic concern that has increased awareness about de pigmentation procedures. The purpose of the present study was to correlate skin color and gender with intensity and distribution of gingival melanin pigmentation in a group of South Indians.

200 male and female non smoking healthy subjects were included aged 18-35 years. A clinical examination of gingiva was performed to assess the anatomic distribution of gingival pigmentation. The intensity of gingival pigmentation and phenotype of gingiva were also observed. Subsequently the skin color was visually examined and assessed as fair, wheatish, brown and dark.

Six classes of gingival pigmentation were defined based on anatomic distribution. Gingival pigmentation was observed as highest being in the attached gingiva and interdental papilla (25.4%) and least being in the marginal gingiva and interdental papilla (10.2%). Correlation between skin color and intensity of pigmentation was statistically significant, with dark skinned subjects having heavy gingival pigmentation and fair skinned having mild pigmentation. However, no correlation was found between gender and phenotype of gingiva with intensity and distribution of pigmentation.

South Indians predominantly have pigmentation in attached gingiva and interdental papilla. It appeared that the degree of gingival pigmentation of the gingiva and skin was reciprocally related. The highest rate of gingival pigmentation was observed in the area of the incisors. Incidence of pigmentation did not differ between the sexes. Majority of subjects had thick gingival phenotype. However, to study the exact variations in the patterns of gingival pigmentation multicentre studies with a larger sample size needs to be done in future for this population.