title: Sulcus temperature distributions in the absence and presence of oral hygiene.
abstract: In this study we investigated the possibility of using sulcus temperature measurements as an early indicator for the beginning of gingival inflammation. Sulcus temperature distributions over the arches appeared to obey a quadratic polynomial. With a test group of 10 volunteers, all dental students, small changes in temperature were measured after subjects refrained from all oral hygiene: A slight but significant tendency for the frontal temperature to increase after 14 days of no oral hygiene was, however, present. The quality of a quadratic polynomial fit of the temperature distributions over the arches decreased significantly, already after 3 d of non-oral hygiene. This indicates that the coefficient of quadratic correlation for the temperature distributions over the arches is a measure for the oral hygiene of patients and for changes in the physiology of gingival tissues. Furthermore, as its decrease was concurrent with an increase in plaque and gingival indices, it might serve as an early indicator for the beginning of gingival inflammation. However, further development work is needed in order to make this approach useful as a clinical tool.
authors.affiliation: University of Groningen, Laboratory for Materia Technica, Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Perdok
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lukacovic
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Majeti
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Arends
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Busscher
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001831:Body Temperature; D005888:Gingival Pocket / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009910:Oral Hygiene; D010512:Periodontal Index; D010518:Periodontitis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology*