Swollen and enlarged gums
Also known as gingival hyperplasia, a growth in gum size or volume is usually found only in a small number of patients with acute leukemia. Despite its low incidence ratio, gum enlargement is one of the disease’s most obvious signs. “If we have a leukemia patient, we are still checking in their mouth to see if their gingiva is getting bigger,” says Dr. Crilley, cancer specialists at John Hopkins Hospital. The gum can look swollen, and a patient may always feel a peculiar tightness in his mouth.
According to Dr. Crilley, one should pay more attention to the enlarged gums when he/she is also experiencing other apparent signs and symptoms of leukemia such as tiredness and exhaustion, bruising under the skin, and swollen lymph nodes.