A CONTRIBUTION TO THE ANATOMY AND PATHOLOGY OF THE HUMAN GINGIVA

¹ Department of Histology, Northwestern University Dental School, Chicago, Ill.

In the material under discussion a certain number of instances were found in which, despite the ages of the individuals and even in the presence of so-called recession, there apparently existed no pockets (crevices).

Inflammation in a gingiva, in the absence of a pocket, could be traced to defects in the mouth epithelium, particularly over the crest of the gingiva.

Where pockets occurred the situation was analogous to the above: there was a defective epithelial covering, which seemed to be the factor in the production of the inflammation.

It is impossible, or at least difficult, to correlate the conditions in and about the gingiva with the epithelial proliferation, although these conditions seem to play some rôle in the so-called recession of the gingiva.