ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Fractal and multifractal analysis are useful additional non-invasive methods for quantitative description of complex morphological features. However, the quantitative and qualitative assessment of morphologic changes within human gingival cells and tissues are still unexplored. The aim of this work is to assess the structural gingival changes in patients with generalized chronic periodontitis (GCP), before and after scaling and root planing (SRP) by using fractal and multifractal analysis. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Twelve adults with untreated chronic periodontitis were treated only by SRP. At baseline and after SRP, gingivomucosal biopsies were collected for histopathological examination. Fractal and multifractal analysis of digital images of the granular, spinous and basal and conjunctive layers structure, using the standard box-counting method was performed. The fractal dimension was determined for cell membrane, nuclear membrane of cell and nucleolus membrane of cell. RESULTS: In GCP a higher fractal dimension corresponds to a higher geometric complexity of cells contour, as its values increase when the contour irregularities increase. The generalized fractal dimensions were determined for the conjunctive layer structure of patients with GCP and patients with GCP and SRP. The fractal and multifractal analysis of gingival biopsies confirmed earlier findings that SRP reduces gingival injury in patients with GCP. CONCLUSION: It has been shown that fractal and multifractal analysis of tissue images as a non-invasive technique could be used to measure contrasting morphologic changes within human gingival cells and tissues and can provide detailed information for investigation of healthy and diseased gingival mucosa from patients with GCP.
Subject(s)
Chronic Periodontitis/therapy , Dental Scaling/methods , Fractals , Gingiva/pathology , Root Planing/methods , Adult , Algorithms , Cell Membrane/pathology , Cell Nucleolus/pathology , Cell Nucleus/pathology , Chronic Periodontitis/pathology , Epithelial Cells/pathology , Female , Follow-Up Studies , Humans , Male , Nuclear Envelope/pathology , Organelles/pathologyABSTRACT
UNLABELLED: In vitro testing of new experimental materials has been introduced for many years as a method to evaluate them in simulated conditions, before the clinical trials. Our study has investigated a new experimental composite resin C1 and adhesive system Ad1 by scanning electron microscope (SEM) studies and microleakage tests. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Both in vitro test were performed on extracted human teeth, that were prepared for standardized class II and V restorations and restored with three composite resins (experimental C1, TetricCeram TC and Solitaire2 S2) and their total-etch adhesive systems (Ad1, Excite EX and GlumaOneBond GB). Teeth were sectioned and investigated under the SEM microscope for the interfaces created and under the optical microscope for dye penetration and microleakage. RESULTS: The Romanian experimental composite C1 has shown lower alpha "ideal" interfaces than TC and S2, with no significant difference between the latter. Microleakage was significantly lower at the enamel margin and significantly higher at the gingival margin placed below the CEJ for all three compared composites. C1 presented similar dye penetration scores with the commercial available systems. DISCUSSION: The differences in SEM analysis can be attributed to higher viscosity and handling properties in the experimental adhesive Adl and to technique sensitivity. CONCLUSIONS: Further investigation is required to obtain better working properties for the experimental adhesive and higher "ideal" scores at the interfaces. Also the SEM investigation is more sensitive than the optical microscope analysis.
