Original Work
Assessment of human gingival inflammation based on measurements of tissue oxygen saturation and local blood flow
2020 Volume 62 Issue 2 Pages 82-95
Details
2020 Volume 62 Issue 2 Pages 82-95
Bleeding on probing (BOP) reflects the presence of gingival inflammation but does not provide detailed information on the severity of inflammation. The purpose of this study was to measure human gingival hemodynamics, specifically tissue oxygen saturation (StO2) and blood flow (BF), to clarify the relationship between the gingival hemodynamics and the severity of gingivitis.
A total of 13 patients (aged 29-82 years) visiting the Department of Periodontology, Tohoku University Hospital, were enrolled in this study. The anterior labial interdental papillary gingiva (n = 33) was set as the measurement target and the patients were classified into 3 groups according to the findings: the NB group (neither the mesial part nor the distal part showed BOP, n = 14), the B group (either the mesial part or the distal part showed BOP, n = 8), and the BB group (both the mesial part and distal part showed BOP, n = 11). The StO2 and BF were measured before and after the target gingiva was brushed.
The results of the measurements were as follows: the StO2 and oxyhemoglobin (HbO2) level before brushing were significantly decreased in the BB group as compared to the NB group. In addition, the StO2 and HbO2 increased more significantly after brushing in the BB group as compared to the NB group.
In this study, the difference in the local hemodynamics between healthy and inflamed gingiva was clarified by simultaneous measurement of the StO2 and BF. In addition, the changes in the StO2 after brushing differed between healthy gingiva and inflamed gingiva, indicating that measurement of the gingival hemodynamics could serve as a useful method for quantitative evaluation of the severity of gingival inflammation.
