Measurement of human gingival sulcus temperature

Abstract

With the ambient temperature well regulated (22.8 + 0.2°C, mean ± 95 % confidence limits) the gingival sulcus temperatures of 21 human subjects were measured, and gingival plaque indices recorded. All subjects had clinically healthy gingiva. The sulcus temperatures of the mandibular teeth were found to be higher than those of the maxillary teeth by 0.7 ± 0.2°C. In both arches, the sulcus temperatures of the molars exceeded those of the incisors by 1.5 ± 0.3°C, this difference being statistically significant. The mean gingival sulcus temperature averaged over the entire dentition was found to be 33.9 ± 0.4°C. Attempts to show a correlation between gingival inflammation and sulcus temperature, although unsuccessful, suggested that such a correlation might be demonstrated through the use of more sophisticated instrumentation. The profile of normal gingival sulcus temperatures established herein shows a marked agreement with published data concerning the distribution of the blood supply to the periodontal ligaments of individual human teeth. It could serve as a reference for studies of heat transfer in dental and periodontal tissues as well as providiong a clinical norm for use in the assessment of periodontal inflammation.

Subgingival temperature (I). Relation to baseline clinical parameters

“…5-7). (Mukherjee 1978, Ng et al 1978, Holthuis et al 1981, Volchansky et al 1985, Volchansky & Cleaton-Jones 1987, Kung et al 1990) that the average subgingival temperature was almost 2°C lower than the sublingual temperature. In addition, there was a great deal of variation of temperatures between teeth as pointed out previously.…”

“…Temperature is one of the more attractive methods of evaluating this response, since it lends itself to direct physical measurement. A number of devices have been developed to measure subgingival temperature (Mukherjee 1978, Ng et al 1978, Holthuis et al 1981, Volchansky et al 1985, Volchansky & Cleaton-Jones 1987, Kung et al 1990. These studies described a number of interesting features of subgingival temperature measurements.…”

The temperature of the periodontal pockets

“…In the analysis of the data, no distinction was made between the identical right and the left tooth of each arch and also between the mesial, distal, buccal and lingual sides of any given tooth as no statistically significant difference was expected (Mukherjee 1978, Ng et al 1978. The mean temperature of the periodontal pockets of various for each tooth was determined.…”

Variations in oral temperature

“…Thermocouples, usually made from copper and copper/nickel alloy, are considered to be as accurate as thermisters and are insulated so that pinpoint measurements may be made (Volchansky, Cleaton-Jones & Smith, 1990). Both these instruments have been used to measure temperature of gingival crevices (Mukherjee, 1978;Ng, Compton & Walker, 1978;Maeda et al, 1979;Maeda et al, 1980); periodontal pockets, (Holthuis, Gelskey & Chebib, 1981;Mukherjee, 1981;Kung, Ochs & Goodson, 1990;Meyerov et al, 1991;Haffajee, Socransky & Goodson, 1992); and the surface of oral mucosa (Brill, Maeda & Stoltz, 1978;Holthuis & Chebib, 1983;Volchansky et al, 1985).…”