A clinical study of the width of the attached gingiva in the deciduous, transitional and permanent dentitions

This study involved 331 individuals who were without clinical evidence of gingival inflammation. The width of the keratinized gingiva and the depth of the gingival sulcus were measured on the mid-facial aspect of all teeth in each patient, using a calibrated, flat periodontal probe. The mean width of the attached gingiva did not show an increase from the deciduous to the permanent dentition. However, the width of the attached gingiva in the case of newly erupted permanent teeth was narrower than in the corresponding primary teeth. The widest zone of attached gingiva was found over the central and lateral incisors. The width of the attached gingiva decreased over the canine and the first premolar (and first primary molar). It then increased over the second premolar (and second primary molar) and the first molar. These variations were approximately the same in both the maxilla and the mandible, although there was a greater over-all width of attached gingiva in the maxilla than in the mandible. The tendency, in the permanent dentition, for the attached gingiva to increase in width with age was related to a concomitant decrease in sulcus depth.