Effect of postmortem tissue fixation on tooth mobility and pocket depth in human beings

With the exception of dry skulls, postmortem human material is rarely used in the study of periodontal disease. If the relationship between clinical periodontal measurements, such as mobility and pocket depth, were known antemortem versus postmortem, a new source of information would be available. In this study, such measurements were performed on a patient whose mandible was resected because of a malignant condition. Mobility was found to have decreased; pocket depths initially increased, and then returned to nearly preoperative levels.