Stippling (dentistry)

The gingiva often possess a textured surface that is referred to as being stippled. [Carranza's Clinical Periodontology, 9th Ed., W.B. Saunders, 2002, page 30.] Stippling only presents on the attached gingiva bound to underlying alveolar bone, not the freely moveable alveolar mucosa. Stippling used to be thought to indicate health, but it has since been shown that smooth gingiva is not an indication of disease, unless it is smooth "due to a loss" of previously existing stippling.

Stippling is a consequence of the microscopic elevations and depressions of the surface of the gingival tissue due to the connective tissue projections within the tissue. [Carranza's Clinical Periodontology, 9th Ed., W.B. Saunders, 2002, page 30.] "The degree of keratinization and the prominence of stippling appear to be related." [Carranza's Clinical Periodontology, 9th Ed., W.B. Saunders, 2002, page 30.]

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