[Establishment of clinically healthy gingiva in Macaca irus]

The purpose of this study was to assess the methods of establishing of clinically (experimental) healthy gingiva and to evaluate the status of healthy gingiva in Macaca irus. Three monkeys (2 males and 1 female) were used. After preliminary feeding with hard food for 6 months, plaque control procedures (scrubbing method, modified Stillman method, and flossing) were started. Frequency of plaque removal was three times per week under KETALAR (SANKYO, Co. Tokyo), dissociative anesthesia. We also monitored clinical data.

1. Forty-nine days later, clinically healthy gingiva were achieved. During this period, no side effects and no tolerance occurred using 12.5 mg/kg of KETALAR, and effective time to perform the procedure was 21.8 minutes. 2. Depending on the plaque control procedure, plaque index (P11), gingival index (GI), and probing depth (PD) were reduced (especially in the first week). However, the level of marginal gingiva (LMG) did not change. 3. Initially and throughout the experiment, PII, GI, PD were lower value in lower jaws, but by the end of experiment there were no differences between the two jaws in PII and PD. However, GI was still lower in the lower jaw at this time. There were no differences between the data for the right and left sides of the jaws at any time throughout the experiment. 4. At the end of experiment, the clinically (experimental) healthy gingiva yielded the following data: PII, 1.7 +/- 0.61; GI, 0.1 +/- 0.60; PD, 1.3 +/- 0.53. No individual differences were found in any of the monkeys at the end of experiment.