Clinical relevance of interdental papilla biopsy in chronic erosive gingivitis (desquamative gingivitis): retrospective bicentric study of 148 specimens

BACKGROUND: Chronic erosive gingivitis, also called desquamative gingivitis, defines a clinical picture that can be generated by several inflammatory and immune diseases. Pathology is therefore essential for the differential diagnosis. However, when the gingival lesion is initial, exclusive or predominant, selecting the biopsy site and protocol may be problematic due to tissue fragility. Especially since there are few studies on the subject, the aim of our study was to assess the protocol, diagnostic relevance and tolerance of an original protocol using interdental papilla biopsy. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective bicentric study, from October 2011 to July 2019, including all patients with a chronic erosive gingivitis who had received, for diagnostic purposes, a interdental papilla biopsy. RESULTS: The contribution levels for the two hospital departments were 94.7% and 97.1%, respectively. No postoperative complication was recorded in the short or long term. CONCLUSION: The interdental papilla biopsy protocol is perfectly adapted to the anatomopathological examinations required to establish differential diagnosis of chronic erosive gingivitis. This surgical protocol is simple to perform, non iatrogenic with a very good tolerance and and accessible to all clinicians. It is highly efficient with an excellent contribution level. ClinicalTrials NCT04293718 (March 3, 2020). Health Data Hub N° F20201109083211 (November 9, 2020). SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12903-021-01820-9.