Effect of Tooth Mobility on Connective Tissue Attachment in Monkeys

Abstract

The present study investigated the influence of tooth mobility on connective tissue attachment apparatuses. The maxillary second premolars of nine Japanese monkeys were used in the experiment, while the maxillary second molars were employed as the control teeth. Tooth mobility was produced using the method described by Kitamura # (1990). After removing the crowns of the maxillary and mandibular canines, the buccal cusps of the second premolars were intentionally elongated by casting onlays to create bruxism force. The animals were sacrificed after 2, # 4 and 10 weeks. Half of the specify region where the sections were obtained were stained with hematoxylin-eosin with an Indian ink injection, and the other half were observed using immunohistochemistry with anti-von Willebrand Factor antibody and proliferating cell nuclear antigen # (PCNA). A marked difference in the loss of connective tissue attachment was observed, when corresponding regions from the supracrestal connective tissue and the periodontal ligament tissues were compared. In the supracrestal connective tissues, an increase in the number of capillaries in the periodontium, vWF-positive endothelial cells, and PCNA-positive cells in the periphery of blood vessels were evident. Further, no loss of connective tissue attachment was observed. In the periodontal ligament tissues, a decrease in the number of capillaries in the connective tissues, vWF-positive endothelial cells, and PCNA-positive cells in the periphery of blood vessels were observed. A loss of connective tissue attachment was also evident. These results suggest that tooth mobility induces the loss of connective tissue attachment through a loss in tissue vascularity. J Jpn Soc Periodontol, 45: 83-94, 2003.