11.

1 INTRODUCTION Periodontal diseases comprise a group of infections that affect the supporting structures of the teeth: marginal and attached gingiva; periodontal ligament; cementum; and alveolar bone. Acute gingival diseasesprimarily herpetic gingivostomatitis and necrotizing gingivitisare ulcerative conditions that result from specific viral and bacterial infection. Chronic gingivitis, however, is a non-specific inflammatory lesion of the marginal gingiva which reflects the bacterial challenge to the host when dental plaque accumulates in the gingival crevice. The development of chronic gingivitis is enhanced when routine oral hygiene practices are impaired. Chronic gingivitis is reversible if effective plaque control measures are introduced. If left untreated the condition invariably converts to chronic periodontitis, which is characterized by resorption of the supporting connective tissue attachment and apical migration of the junctional epithelia. Slowly progressing, chronic periodontitis affects most of the adult population to a greater or lesser extent, although the early stages of the disease are detected in adolescents. Children are also susceptible to aggressive periodontal diseases that involve the primary and permanent dentitions, respectively, and present in localized or generalized forms. These conditions, which are distinct clinical entities affecting otherwise healthy children, must be differentiated from the extensive periodontal destruction that is associated with certain systemic diseases, degenerative disorders, and congenital syndromes. Periodontal tissues are also susceptible to changes that are not, primarily, of an infectious nature. Factitious stomatitis is characterized by self-inflicted trauma to oral soft tissues and the gingiva are invariably involved. Drug-induced gingival enlargement is becoming increasingly more prevalent with the widespread use of organ transplant procedures and the use of long-term immunosuppressant therapy.

Localized enlargement may occur as a gingival complication of orthodontic treatment. A classification of periodontal diseases in children is given in Table 11.1.
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11.2 ANATOMY OF THE PERIODONTIUM IN CHILDREN (dhio) Marginal gingival tissues around the primary dentition are more highly vascular and contain fewer connective tissue fibres than tissues around the permanent teeth. The epithelia are thinner with a lesser degree of keratinization, giving an appearance of increased redness that may be interpreted as mild inflammation. Furthermore, the localized hyperaemia that accompanies eruption of the primary dentition can persist, leading to swollen and rounded interproximal papillae and a depth of gingival sulcus exceeding 3 mm. During eruption of the permanent teeth the junctional epithelium migrates apically from the incisal or occlusal surface towards the cementoenamel junction (CEJ). While the epithelial attachment is above the line of maximum crown convexity, the gingival sulcus depth often exceeds 6 or 7 mm, which favours the accumulation of plaque. When the teeth are fully erupted, there continues to be an apical shift of junctional epithelium and the free gingival margins. Stability of the gingiva is achieved at about 12 years for mandibular incisors, canines, second premolars, and first molars. The tissues around the remaining teeth continue to recede slowly until about 16 years. Thus the gingival margins are frequently at different levels on adjacent teeth that are at different stages of eruption. This sometimes gives an erroneous appearance that gingival recession has occurred around those teeth that have been in the mouth longest. A variation in sulcus depths around posterior teeth in the mixed dentition is common. For example, sulcus depths on the mesial aspects of Es and 6s are greater than those on the distal of Ds and Es, respectively. This is accountable to the discrepancy in the

horizontal position of adjacent CEJs due to the difference in the occlusoapical widths of adjacent molar crowns. The attached gingiva extends from the free gingival margin to the mucogingival line minus the sulcus depth in the absence of inflammation. Attached gingiva is necessary to maintain sulcus depth, to resist functional stresses during mastication, and to resist tensional stress by acting as a buffer between the mobile gingival margin and the loosely structured alveolar mucosa. The width of attached gingiva is less variable in the primary than in the permanent dentition. This may partly account for the scarcity of mucogingival problems in the primary dentition. (gina) The periodontal ligament space is wider in children, partly as a consequence of thinner cementum and alveolar cortical plates. The ligament is less fibrous and more vascular. Alveolar bone has larger marrow spaces, greater vascularity, and fewer trabeculae than adult tissues, features that may enhance the rate of progression of periodontal disease when it affects the primary dentition. The radiographic distance between the CEJ and the healthy alveolar bone crest for primary canine and molar teeth ranges from 0 to 2 mm. Individual surfaces display distances of up to 4 mm when adjacent permanent or primary teeth are erupting or exfoliating, respectively, and eruptive and maturation changes must be considered when radiographs are used to diagnose periodontal disease in children. When such changes are excluded, a CEJ-alveolar crest distance of more than 2 mm should arouse suspicion of pathological bone loss in the primary dentition.