Abstract
Occlusal splint has gained wide-spread clinical application. Insertion of occlusal splint has been reported to exert a harmful effect on teeth or periodontal tissue. Great care should, therefore, be paid to the usage. The occlusal splint (Michigan University type) which is most frequently used covers a wide area of the palatal gingiva and this may result in damage to periodontal tissue. Using 10 volunteers, the occlusal splint was inserted on the maxilla for 3 weeks in succession to examine the degree of damage to the periodontal tissue at the labial, palatal and both proximal surfaces of maxillary anterior teeth using the bleeding index and gingival crevicular fluid volume (Periotron value). It was found that (1) from immediately after insertion, both the bleeding index and Periotron value increased markedly, demonstrating significantry high value after 3 weeks, (2) of changes in the Periotron value at various sites, a most distinguished change was noted on the proximal surface and (3) removal of the occlusal splint resulted in reduction of both the bleeding index and Periotron value, returning to the original value 2 weeks later.
