[Mouth diseases and dental materials: potential for study with cytofluorometry]

The potential dental materials have of inducing mouth diseases is well known, and various methods have been developed to investigate this phenomenon. Among these there are histological studies of the pulp and periodontium exposed to dental materials, both in vivo and in vitro in humans and animals. Other studies are based on the clinical observation of the effects induced by dental materials. Aim of the paper is to evaluate the use of flow cytometry to analyse crevicular fluid to study its content in terms of inflammatory cells and inflammation mediators.

Samples of crevicular fluid were collected by aspiration using a bevelled needle mounted on a 5 ml syringe from patients without periodontitis and with periodontitis and multiple heterogeneous dental restorations. This method was adopted since it allows to place the cells of the fluid in suspension. Part of the fluid was analysed by cytology and part by flow cytometry.

In the patients without periodontal disease cytological examination revealed the presence of desquamated epithelial cells and colonies of cocci, rods and spirochaetae. In the patients with periodontal disease the same examination revealed, besides the above, the presence of inflammatory cells. Flow cytometry confirmed the findings of cytological examination, thus proving to be an effective method for studying crevicular fluid.

This method allows to identify specific inflammatory cells or mediators of inflammation in crevicular fluid and may therefore prove to be very useful in the study of alterations induced by some dental materials at the level of the gingival sulcus.