Gingivitis in young and old dogs

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Abstract
The aim of the investigation was to study the development of gingivitis in young and old dogs. 10 beagle dogs were used. 5 of the dogs were 1 year old and 5 dogs were between 8 and 9 years of age. On day 0, all the teeth of all 10 dogs were scaled and polished. A 6‐week period of plaque control was initiated. On day 42, a clinical examination was performed, microbial samples from the gingival sulcus were harvested and biopsies obtained from tooth regions 3P and 4P. The tooth‐cleaning measures were abandoned following biopsy and the animals were during the subsequent 3 weeks allowed to form plaque. On day 63, i.e., day 21 of plaque formation, the clinical examination, sampling of the subgingival plaque and harvesting of biopsies were repeated in the contralateral premolar regions (P3 and P4). The histological analysis revealed that the cellular infiltrate (the lesion) of inflamed gingiva was larger and extended more apically in the old than in the young dogs. The lesion in the old dogs contained significantly more plasma cells but less macrophages, lymphocytes and PMN cells than the infiltrate in the young dogs.