Abstract
The present experiment was undertaken to evaluate the association and the effect of mouth breathing in the initiation and the progression of periodontal disease. Artificial mouth model-fulfilling nearly all the criteria of natural mouth was made and a visualization survey of flow patterns was carried out using Dye (Uranin).
As the result of this experiment, the following characteristics were observed in the flow patterns.(a)In case of deep overbite, the inhalation flow was concentrated on the palatal gum margin and then ran into the throat alongside hard palate. And on both sides of the upper arch, it was stagnant with some feeble circulations. (b)In normal occulusion, it was the same as (a) pattern, but concentrated flow was delayed in comparison to (a) pattern. (a)In mandibular prognathic relation, the flow pattern was initially concentrated, then immediately changed into unsteady and turbulent.
The region of concentrated flow in the artificial mouthmodel was coincident to the area of tension ridge (upper anterior), suggesting that mouth breathing may be one of the important etiologic factor of periodontal disease.
