Epulis is a relapsable lesion in gingiva without specific treatment for its unexplained pathogenesis. Nowadays, surgical excision is the most popular method of treatment. To prevent recurrence, it is necessary to resect diseased tissues thoroughly, and even to remove the involved teeth. However, this may cause functional and cosmetic
deformities. Therefore, it is urgent to find a new
therapy without severe side effects. Infantile
hemangioma is a common benign pediatric
tumor which shares many features with
epulis, such as rich vascularity, high incidence of female patients, high
hormone level and similar treatments. A recent study showed that
propranolol, a
beta adrenergic receptor (β-AR) antagonist, was effective as treatment for infantile
hemangioma. Our preliminary work showed that
mRNA and
protein levels of β2-AR were higher in
epulis than in adjacent tissue. Therefore, we hypothesize that
intralesional injection of
propranolol may be useful as
epulis treatment. Further work need to be done to confirm the safety and
therapeutic effect of the treatment. After that, this specific β2-AR antagonist may be the first choice for
epulis treatment.