A colorimetrical study on the gingival color of infants by an application of color film.

In children periodontal disease presents itself as symptoms of systemic disease, but very seldom does it develop, as in adults, into cases that accompany serious damage to the alveolar bone. Most common are the cases of localized filth and eruptive gingivitis. The majority of these cases of gingivitis are localized in the interdental papilla and marginal gingiva and very few of them affect the attached gingiva [1]. However, as has been pointed out by GILBERT [2], GREENE [3] and RUSSEL [4], periodontal disease in adults first appears as symptoms of gingivitis in childhood which may eventually lead to serious damage to the periodontal tissue if left untreated. This necessitates a thorough understanding of childhood gingivitis. In infants, according to epidemiological research on gingivitis in children , PARFITT et al. [5] reported 0% at age 3, 55% at 4 and 60% at 5. MASSLER et al. [6] reported 9% at the age of 5, MAYANAGI [7] 30% at 3 and 41 % in the latter part of age 4 and. AMARI [8] 79.6% at age 3, 72.0% at 4, 82.8% at 5 and 91.6% at the age of 6. YAMANE [9] reported 13.6% at age 3, 28.1 % at 4 and 34.4% at 5. Among school-age children, SHIMADA [10] reported 45.5% in boys and 38.5% in girls both of age 9 and 40.9% in boys and 65.0% in girls both of age 10. ISHIKAWA et al. [11] reported 97.24% in boys and girls of ages 9 and 10 and MASSLER et al. [6] 69% in 7-year-olds and 80% in 11-year-olds. PARFITT et al. [5] reported 90% in 11-year-olds. Among youngsters at puberty, HAGIWARA et al. [12] reported 60% at age 15. MATSUO [13] reported 40 to 47.0% in boys and 48.5 to 52.7% in girls in farming areas and 21.1 to 35.5% in boys and 23.5 to 40.8% in girls in urban areas at ages 13 to 15. TANAKA et al. [14] reported 88.5% in 14-year-olds and SHIMADA [10] 78.7 % in boys and 79.6% in girls at age 15. GREENE [3] reported 96.9% at ages 11 to 17 and PARFITT [5] 80% at ages 13 to 15. The marked discrepancy in the figures above is probably due to the fact that gingivitis in children is not as distinctive as in adults, and because there are a variety of methods for diagnosing gingivitis no objective guidelines have been established as yet. One obvious symptom in the early stages of gingivitis is redness of the gingiva.