Research Article: Drug Induced Oral Mucosal Pigmentation

Medications may induce a variety of different forms of mucocutaneous pigmentation, including melanosis.

• Various drugs and heavy metals can induce oral and perioral pigmentation.
• Proper evaluation, diagnosis and management of the patient are very necessary.
• Discontinuation of causative agent is the best treatment regarding oral drug induced melanosis.
• Dental prophylactic measures should be followed like proper oral hygiene maintainence and regular dental visits.

Drug induced Melanosis:

• The chief drugs implicated in drug induced melanosis are antimalarials.
• These medications are typically used for the treatment of autoimmune diseases.

• Heavy Metal Pigmentation Increased levels of heavy metals (e.g., lead, bismuth, mercury, silver, arsenic and gold) in the blood represent a known cause of oral mucosal discolouration.
• Complete local and systemic assessment of the patient should be performed prior to diagnosing these entities.
• Discontinuity of causative agents will gradually normalize the hypermelanotic pigmentation.