¹facUltY of medicine, dentiStrY clinic, dePt. of Preventive and Pediatric dentiStrY, niS, SerBia
²facUltY of medicine, inStitUte of PatHoloGY, clinical centre, niS, SerBia
³facUltY of medicine, dentiStrY clinic, dePt. of oral medicine and ParadontoloGY, niS, SerBia
⁴FACULty OF MeDICIne – Ph.d. StUdent, niS, SerBia

Introduction. Catarrhal gingivitis is the most common disease of oral mucosa in children. The principal etiologic factor in its occurrence is dental plaque with biofilm characteristics. Under the chemical and toxic action of oral biofilm and with local reaction of the host, as the consequence of homeostatic mechanisms, cell damage may result, leading to the disease of the gingiva and other parts of the parodontium. Gingival epithelial cells constitute the first physical barrier for parodontal pathogenic microorganisms. Bacterial products penetrating the epithelium may directly disturb its integrity. Our aim with this paper was to assess the status of the gingiva before and after the treatment for chronic catarrhal gingivitis in children, using clinical and cytomorphometric studies.
Methods. The study enrolled 80 children divided into two groups: group I (50 children with chronic catarrhal gingivitis, treated with basic therapy) and group II (30 children with healthy gingiva as controls). The following indexes were determined for all the examinees before and after treatment: plaque index according to Green and Vermillion (PI) and the Muhlemann bleeding index (MBI). Gingival swabs were taken before and after treatment from group I examinees for morphometric investigation. Gingival swabs were taken from group II subjects as well.
Results. The values of PI in group I were 1.94 before, and 0 after treatment. The value of PI in group II was 0.17. Before treatment, the MBI in group I was 2.02, and 0.32 after treatment, while in group II MBI was 0. Cytomorphometric analysis revealed a statistically significant difference (p<0,001) in the size of the nuclei of stratified squamous gingival epithelium cells before and after treatment for chronic catarrhal gingivitis.
Conclusion. Basic treatment is capable of successfully resolving chronic catarrhal gingivitis in children, which was confirmed by the appropriate clinical parameters. Cytomorphometric analysis established that the size of the nuclei of stratified squamous epithelial cells of the gingiva was reduced, although not to the size characterizing healthy gingiva. The events occurring within the cells of the stratified squamous epithelium have not yet been fully elucidated, which deserves further research.

Key words: gingivitis, children, cytomorphometrics