Abstract
Equine periodontal disease in horses has long been recognized as a painful disease, leading to a poor condition. The disease is widespread and attracts growing attention in equine dental medicine. The understanding of the underlying etiological and pathological mechanisms of equine periodontal disease is necessary to develop effective prophylactic and treatment options. As a first step, a thorough description of the histological features of the healthy equine gingiva is required. Specimens were taken from six horses (3 mares, 3 geldings, age: 0.5–26 years). The animals were euthanized for reasons not related to this study. Heads were dissected and gingival specimens, including parts of the adjacent teeth, alveolar bone and the periodontal ligament, were obtained from several positions of the dentition. Histological sections were evaluated via light microscopy, with special attention to the structural components of the gingiva, i.e., the gingival sulcus, the epithelium, and the components of the lamina propria (LP). Although the equine gingiva showed the same structural components as described in humans and dogs, the equine junctional epithelium was adapted to the equine dental anatomy and attached to the equine-unique peripheral cementum. Leucocytic infiltrations (LI) of the LP, sulcular epithelium (SE) and junctional epithelium (JE) were frequently seen. The amount of LI was not associated with a macroscopically visual pathology (e.g., diastema or food entrapment) in the respective position. The gingival sulcus depth had an average depth of <1 mm.
Highlights
The equine periodontium consists of the periodontal ligament, the dental cementum, the alveolar bone, and the gingiva [1,2,3]
The present study aims to elucidate equine specific characteristics of the gingiva in order to provide a basis for further histopathological investigations [12]
No blood vessels or leucocytic infiltrations were found in the equine oral gingival epithelium; this is consistent with reports in non-equine species
Summary
The equine periodontium consists of the periodontal ligament, the dental cementum, the alveolar bone, and the gingiva [1,2,3]. Pathological alterations often start with food impaction and widening of interdental spaces, causing diastemata and periodontal pockets [4,5,6,7,8]. If the junctional epithelium (JE) becomes destroyed, the infection spreads to the periodontal ligament, causing severe conditions of equine periodontal disease. A thorough description of the histological stages of periodontal disease is available, starting with the “initial lesion” (clinically healthy, but slightly inflamed gingival tissues), continuing with the “early lesion” (beginning gingivitis), “established lesion” (chronic gingivitis) and “advanced lesion” (periodontal disease) [10, 11].
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