Abstract
Mouth breathing is an important etiological factor of chronic gingivitis and chronic marginal periodontitis as well as dental plaque and calculus. However, mechanism of mouth breathing for the initiation of gingival inflammation has not been clearly demonstrated.
The purpose of this study is to observe the effect of oral screen and lip seal tape for mouth breathers, during sleeping.
Ten patients suffering from chronic marginal periodontitis with habitual mouth breathing were used for this study and experimental periods were 30 days. Before, during and after experimental periods, oral findings were examined and biopsy specimens of the gingiva were taken.
Consequently we obtained the findings of clinical changes, pocket depth, thickness of the gums and histopathologic changes of the gingiva.
Results were as follows:
1. Halitosis and unconfortable feeling in mouth were decreased clearly.
2. Depth of periodontal pocket and labio-lingual width of the gingiva were improved. They were mainly seen at labial side of maxilla.
3. The histopathologic examination showed that vacuolar degeneration of epithelial cells were reduced, but inflammations of connective tissue were not improved clearly.
