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Sulcus temperature distributions in the absence and presence of oral hygiene
Author(s) -
Perdok J. F.,
Lukacovic M.,
Majeti S.,
Arends J.,
Busscher H. J.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
journal of periodontal research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.31
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1600-0765
pISSN - 0022-3484
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0765.1992.tb01810.x
Subject(s) - oral hygiene , gingival inflammation , gingival sulcus , sulcus , dentistry , medicine , arch , dental arch , dental hygiene , orthodontics , gingivitis , surgery , civil engineering , engineering
In this study we investigated the possibility of using sulcus temperature measurements as an early indicator for the beginning of gingival inflammation. Sulcus temperature distributions over the arches appeared to obey a quadratic polynomial. With a test group of 10 volunteers, all dental students, small changes in temperature were measured after subjects refrained from all oral hygiene: A slight but significant tendency for the frontal temperature to increase after 14 days of no oral hygiene was, however, present. The quality of a quadratic polynomial fit of the temperature distributions over the arches decreased significantly, already after 3 d of non‐oral hygiene. This indicates that the coefficient of quadratic correlation for the temperature distributions over the arches is a measure for the oral hygiene of patients and for changes in the physiology of gingival tissues. Furthermore, as its decrease was concurrent with an increase in plaque and gingival indices, it might serve as an early indicator for the beginning of gingival inflammation. However, further development work is needed in order to make this approach useful as a clinical tool.