The glucose and protein content of the gingival fluid and blood of 10 diabetic patients and 10 control subjects with gingival and plaque indices of 1–2 were compared. Both the control and diabetic groups had similar blood and gingival fluid protein levels as well as comparable gingival fluid volumes. The glucose content of both the gingival fluid and the blood of the diabetics was significantly elevated above those seen in the control group. The glucose content of the gingival fluid from the diabetics also showed a significant correlation to blood glucose levels found in each patient. The increased glucose content of the gingival fluid in diabetics may reflect metabolic changes in the gingival tissues as well as altered vascular permeability of the capillaries present in the gingival crevice.

Initial pilot studies using tricalcium phosphate ceramic placed into human periodontal osseous defects demonstrated osseous repair. Therefore, further evaluation of this material was undertaken on 17 carefully selected patients with 1-wall, 2-wall, crestal and furcation defects using standardized preoperative and postoperative radiographs, clinical measurements and clinical photographs. Inverse bevel, full-thickness flaps were raised, the areas debrided, root surfaces planed with ultrasonic and hand instrumentation, osseous penetrations made with curet point and the flaps sutured after the defects were filled. Eighteen-month reentry surgical procedures were performed on 10 of the 17 patients, with a resultant average of 2.8 mm of new bone. Controls were not used in this study since a protocol describing a sham procedure with other than 3-wall osseous defects was not acceptable in 1973 to the Clinical Human Use Committee. Although the tricalcium phosphate ceramic material was not found to be totally predictable in this study, it may nevertheless become a useful graft material because of its potential for osseous repair in combination with its availability, host acceptability, ease of manipulation and storage advantages.

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Histologic examination was performed on the superior labial frenum obtained from 11 fresh biopsy and three autopsy specimens. The frena contained considerable dense collagen, loose connective tissue and elastic fibers. There were no muscle fibers in any of the frenum sections except the autopsy specimens, where it was seen in the vestibular tissue but not in the frenum proper.