Continuous widening of the band of attached gingiva from 23 to 65 years of age.

Abstract

In earlier studies it was shown that the distance from the cemento‐enamel junction to the mucogingival junction, i.e. the anatomical width of fibrously attached gingiva, increases significantly from 23 to 43 years of age. The aim of the present study was to examine whether alveolar growth continues to result in an increase in this dimension after the age of 43. In a total of 21 males aged 65.7 ± 9.1 years and 21 females aged 64.5 ± 6.1 years, with an average of 23 occluding teeth, the mucogingival junction was marked with short pieces of metal wire. Orthopantomograms were then taken and the distances measured from the mucogingival junction to the cemento‐enamel junction and to the orthopantomographic projection of the bottom of the nasal cavity in the maxilla and from the mucogingival junction to the cementoenamel junction and to the lower border of the jaw in the mandible. The measurements were taken along the long axis of each occluding tooth. The bilaterally pooled results indicated that alveolar growth continues to increase the distance between the cemento‐enamel junction and the mucogingival junction in both males and females from age 43 to 65 years. However, the growth was slower during this period than from age 23 to 43 years. The distance from the mandibular border to the mucogingival junction of the same jaw did not change from 23 to 65 years of age. In the maxilla, an increase in the distance from the floor of the nasal cavity to the mucogingival junction was indicative of a continuous growth through adult age of the basal bone in the male but not in the female cranium.