Is surgical treatment of gingival and palatal cysts of the newborns necessary?

ABSTRACT

Purpose of this study was to investigate the conservative and or surgical treatment of gingival and palatal cysts of the newborns. A three years prospective study was conducted between 2009 and 2012 at Prince Hashem Ben Al-Hussein Military Hospital/Zarqa-North of Jordan and Prince Zaid Ben Al-Hussein Military Hospital, Atafela-South of Jordan. A total of 5000 newborns were examined. Those newborns who were diagnosed initially to have a single or multiple gingival and or palatal cysts were included in the study, but those with cleft palate and or cleft lip and all with congenital abnormalities were excluded. All infants diagnosed initially by neonatologist as having either gingival or palatal cyst were referred to periodontist for confirmation of the diagnosis. Further evaluations were conducted by neonatologist and periodontist after every two weeks. Over a period of three years, a total of 144 newborns with gingival and or palatal cysts were diagnosed during routine examination of the newborns at Prince Hashem Military Hospital and Prince Zaid Ben Al-Hussein Military Hospital. Patients were followed up for a period of 8 months. Sixty three percent of all cysts were broken by themselves after one week while 8% broke at the age of 3 months, 10% at 6 months of age, 6% at the age of 8 months and only 4% required surgical treatment. The study concluded that the majority of gingival and palatal cysts of the newborns resolved by the age of 8 months by themselves. This emphasizes the need for conservative and regular follow-ups and just reassuring the guardians of the newborns. The minority of them need surgical treatment