📌 GINGIVA
🔸It is the part of mucosa that covers the alveolar processes of jaws and surrounds the necks of the teeth.

🔸A modern definition states that it is the fibrous investing tissue covered by keratinized epithelium that immediately surrounds a tooth and is contiguous with its periodontal ligament and the mucosal tissue of the mouth.
💡Marginal Gingiva
🔸Marginal gingiva or unattached gingiva is the terminal edge or border of the gingiva surrounding teeth like a collar.
🔸It not directly attached to the tooth forming the soft tissue wall of the sulcus.

🔸It extends 1.0-1.5 mm on facial and lingual from gingival margin to free gingival groove.

🔸It has a dull surface and firm consistency.

💡Free Gingival Groove
🔸It is a fine groove running parallel to the gingival margin (at a distance of 0.5 to 1.5 mm) dividing the free gingival from the attached gingiva, present in 30-40 percent teeth.

🔸It appears as a shallow line or depression and often but does not necessarily corresponds to the location of the bottom of the gingival sulcus.

🔸It is believed that it arise from functional impacts on the movable free gingiva back on the attached and immovable gingiva.

💡Gingival Sulcus
🔸It is the shallow crevice or space around tooth bounded on one side by surface of tooth and on other side by epithelium lining-free gingiva margin.

🔸The depth of the gingival crevice varies according to location, state of eruption, and presence and absence of disease.

🔸The average depth of the gingival crevice is usually less than 3 mm; however, it should not be considered abnormal if greater than 2 or 3 mm .

💡Attached Gingiva
🔸It is the part of the gingiva that is continuous with marginal gingiva, which is firm, resilient and tightly bound to the periosteum of underlying alveolar bone.

🔸It is frequently stippled, firm, and thick, lacking a submucous layer; and it has no glands.

🔸It is located from free gingival groove to mucogingival junction.

🔸It is attached to tooth directly in case of dehiscence.

🔸The width of facial attached gingival ranges from 0 to 10 mm.

🔸It is greatest on the facial surface of the maxillary lateral incisor and narrowest over the facial surface of the mandibular canine and premolars.

🔸The dimensions of marginal and attached gingiva are intimately related to each other. In fact, it may be considered as a gingival unit.
📣Functions
• It acts as an anchor between free gingival groove and alveolar mucosa.
• It dissipates forces from muscle fibers through alveolar mucosa.

📣 Width of Attached Gingiva
🔸It is the distance between the mucogingival junction to the projection on the external surface of the bottom of the gingiva sulcus or periodontal pocket.

🔸The width of attached gingiva is greater in adults than in children (Bowers, 1963).

🔸This widening is not linear since the attached gingiva in newly erupted permanent tooth is significantly narrower than that of its deciduous predecessor.

🔸It can be concluded that the width of attached gingiva;

– changes concomitantly to changes in the sulcus and crevice depth during eruption and shedding.

– increases with age in the primary dentition.

– is significantly narrower in newly erupted permanent teeth than in their deciduous predecessors.

– increases gradually with the eruption of the permanent teeth- however, in certain teeth it may take many years.

💡Interdental Gingiva
🔸It is the part of the gingiva, which occupies the gingiva embrasures, e.g. The interproximal space beneath the area of tooth contact.

💡Interdental Groove
🔸Vertical groove parallel to long axis of adjacent teeth in interdental area of attached gingiva is called as interdental groove.

💡Desmosomes
🔸Keratinocytes are interconnected by structures on cell periphery called desmosomes.

💡Keratinosomes or Odland Bodies
🔸Upper most cells of stratum spinosum contain numerous dense granules known as keratinosomes.

💡Oral or Outer Epithelium
🔸The epithelium, which covers the outer surface and crest of the marginal gingiva and the outer surface of attached gingiva, is called as oral epithelium.

💡Alveolar Mucosa
🔸It has thin, nonkeratinized epithelium lacking rete pegs. Its connective tissue is consisting of thin lamina propria and vascular submucosa. It has predominantly elastic fibers, so is loosely bound to underlying bone.

💡Sulcular Epithelium
🔸Sulcular epithelium lines the gingival sulcus extending from upper limit of junctional epithelium to the crest of the gingiva margin.

💡Junctional Epithelium
🔸It is a stratified squamous nonkeratinized epithelium that extends apically from bottom of sulcus to form color like band around each tooth.

(It is approximately 1 mm in health. Proline/hydroxyproline secreted by epithelial cells bind junctional epithelium to enamel or cementum).

💡Dentogingival Unit
🔸Attachment of junctional epithelium to the tooth surface is reinforced by gingiva fibers, which firmly braces marginal gingiva against tooth surface. Thus, gingiva fibers and junctional epithelium works together as a functional unit called “DENTOGINGIVAL UNIT”.

💡Cuticle
🔸It is a thin, acellular structure which a homogenous matrix sometimes enclosed with in a clearly demarcated linear borders.

💡Coronal Cementum
🔸It is a thin layer of homogenous organic material of variable thickness overlying the enamel surface.

💡Gingiva Fluid or Sulcular Fluid
🔸Fluid that seeps into gingiva sulcus from gingiva connective tissue through the thin sulcular epithelium is called as sulcular fluid.

🔸As early as 1817, it was believed that this tissue fluid was secreted by gingival glands, later called Serres glands (Serres 1817).

🔸The fluid was soon found to be an inflammatory exudate (Bodecker 1933, 1945).

💡Gingiva Fibers
🔸The connective tissue of marginal gingiva is densely collagenous, containing a prominent system of collagen fibers bundles called gingiva fibers.
🔸It stabilizes the attached gingiva to alveolar process and to the tooth and it is important in postorthodontic relapse.

💡Stippling
🔸The portion of gingival outer epithelium appears to be elevated and between them there are shallow depressions corresponding to extensions of connective tissue papilla into epithelium retepegs.

🔸This appearance is referred to as stippling.

🔸It appears as “matted” in texture, just distance from the gingival margin; being associated with numerous regularly distributed small depressions and giving the tissue “orange peel appearance”.

🔸The degree of stippling varies with individuals and; it had been thought to be an expression of functional adaptation to mechanical impacts.

🔸It has been described as “fine” or “coarse”, as variable between individuals and ages, and as being finer in females than in males. 

💡Melanin
🔸Melanin is nonhemoglobin-derived brown pigment, which is responsible for normal pigmentation of the skin, gingiva and remainder of the oral mucous membrane.
💡Anatomic Crown
🔸The portion of tooth, which is covered by enamel is called anatomic root.
💡Clinical Crown
🔸The part of tooth that has been denuded of its gingiva and projects into oral cavity is known as clinical crown.
💡Anatomic Root
🔸Anatomic root is the portion of the tooth, which is covered by cementum.
💡Clinical Root
🔸Clinical root is the portion of tooth, which is covered by periodontal tissue.

💡Lamina Propria
🔸The connective tissue beneath the gingiva that is made up of two layers: the papillary layer immediately beneath the epithelium, which consists of papillary projections between the retepegs; and the reticular layer which extends to the periosteum.
🔸It is approximately 1 mm between CEJ and crest of bone.

🔸The primary cells of lamina propria are the fibroblast.
💡Papillary Layer
🔸It is the part of lamina propria subjacent to epithelium.
💡Reticular Layer
🔸It is the part of lamina propria, which is continuous with periosteum of alveolar bone.
💡Active Eruption
🔸The movement of teeth in the direction of occlusal plane is called active eruption.
💡Passive Eruption
🔸The exposure of tooth by apical migration of gingiva is called passive eruption.
💡Gingival Recession
🔸Gingival recession is exposure of tooth by apical migration of gingiva.

💡Physiologic Recession
🔸Root exposure with increasing age is considered normal and referred to physiologic recession.

💡Col
🔸Col is a valley-like depression at the tip of the papilla that connects the facial and lingual gingiva just beneath the contact point.

🔸This term is borrowed from mountaineering, where it is used to describe a ridge-shaped depression adjoining two adjacent peaks (Fish 1961).

🔸This is considered as a site of least resistance (locus minoris resistance) to invasion by microorganisms and/or their toxins. (Stahl 1963; Jablonski 1992)