Morphometric analysis of collagen and inflammatory cells in periodontal disease.

BACKGROUND/AIM: Periodontal disease affects gingival tissue and supporting apparatus of the teeth leading to its decay. The aim of this study was to highlight and precisely determine his- tological changes in the gum tissue. METHODS: Gingival biopsy samples from 53 healthy and parodontopathy-affected patients were used. Clinical staging of the disease was performed. Tissue specimens were fixed and routinely processed. Sections, 5 µm thin, were stained with hematoxylin and eosin, histochemical Van-Gieson for the collagen content, Spicer method for mast-cells and immunochemical method with anti-CD68 and anti-CD38 for the labelling of the macrophages and plasma-cells. Morphometric analysis was performed by a M42 test system. RESULTS: While the disease advanced, collagen and fibroblast volume density decreased almost twice in the severe cases compared to the control ones, but a significant variation was observed within the investigated groups. The mast-cell number increased nearly two times, while the macrophage content was up to three times higher in severe parodontopathy than in healthy gingival tissue. However, the relative proportion of these cells stayed around 6% in all cases. Plasma-cells had the most prominent increase in the number (over 8 times) compared to the control, but again, a variation within investigated groups was very high. CONCLUSION: Gingival tissue destruction caused by inflammatory process leads to significant changes in collagen density and population of resident connective tissue cells. Although inflammatory cells dominated with the disease advancing, a high variation within the same investigated groups suggests fluctuation of the pathological process.

[Traumatic dental injuries in Serbian children--epidemiological study].

INTRODUCTION: Comprehensive epidemiological data regarding factors associated with traumatic dental injuries are scarce. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to assess the frequency and analyze the factors associated with traumatic dental injuries in Serbian children. METHODS: Research included children and adolescents with traumatic dental injury aged 0-19 year during the period from 2003 to 2010, in four University Dental Centres in Serbia: Belgrade, Nis, Novi Sad and Kragujevac. Patient history, demographic, clinical and radiographic data were obtained from dental trauma forms. RESULTS: Total of 2,194 patients (748 girls, 1,446 boys) (chi2 = 222.1; p < 0.01) with 3,077 injured teeth in permanent and 953 in primary dentition were observed. Most of patients were aged 7 to 12 years (n = 1,191). The most frequent injuries in primary and permanent dentition were dislocations (87.4%) and teeth fractures (50.8%), respectively (chi2 = 706.1; p < 0.01). The most frequent mechanism of injury was fall in children aged 0 to 12 years, while the collisions were most frequent in adolescents (53.9%). The most frequent injuries in adolescents were inflicted outdoor (66.8%), while the injuries in children aged 0 to 3 years occurred at home (68.2%), (chi2 = 360.8; p < 0.01). The most frequent injuries in girls were accidental (48.3%), and in boys these were sport injuries (20.4%) and violence (10.4%) (chi2 = 79.9; p < 0.01). The most frequent cause of injury in children aged 0 to 3 years was accidental (75.6%), while in adolescents it was sport (34.1%) (chi2 = 1102.7; p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Dental injuries in preschool children most frequently resulted from fall at home. Schoolchildren most frequently injured teeth outdoor during play. Violence and sport injuries were most frequent cause of injury in adolescents.