Ultrastructural gingival reactions to gold foil restorations

In the case of class-V gold foil restorations prepared below the gingival sulcus in beagle dogs after elevation of a flap, chronic inflammatory changes were observed after 3 weeks in the adjacent epithelium and connective tissue of the gingiva with the presence of dental plaque between the gold restorations and sulcular epithelium. However no inflammation was observed in the junctional epithelium and the subjacent connective tissue 3 weeks after implantation of a gold strip burnished and bounded to the root surface after elevation of a flap. The cell membranes of the superficial epithelial cells were either directly applied to the gold surface or were separated from the latter by an extracellular space about 200 to 500 A in width. No hemidesmosomes were seen. The different responses noted in the two experiments are related to the presence or absence of dental plaque and probably to the surface difference of the gold restorations.