Biopsy the gold standard in the final diagnosis of solitary gingival enlargements: Case reports and an overview

Solitary gingival enlargements are the commonly occurring soft-tissue tumors of the oral cavity. These lesions occur in response to local irritation or may occur as exaggerated tissue response to underlying systemic conditions. Commonly occurring solitary gingival enlargements include the pyogenic granuloma, peripheral giant cell granuloma, fibroma, peripheral ossifying fibroma, exophytic squamous cell carcinoma, abscesses, hemangioma, Kaposi's sarcoma etc., When present, they result in the diagnostic dilemma when the diagnosis is entirely based on clinical findings, in such conditions proper history and histopathological examination may aid in proper diagnosis and case management. This article is intended to address the importance of histopathological examination of various solitary enlargements that resemble clinically alike though they are different histpathologically. Biopsy results in turn will dictate the further treatment depending on the recurrence rate and the nature of the lesion. This article also focuses on few case reports of solitary gingival enlargements.