Histological Evaluation of Epithelial Thickness, Microvasculature and Number of Mast Cells in the Gingiva of Smokers and Non-smokers with Chronic Periodontitis

Abstract

Introduction: Smoking influences the clinical parameters and disease progression in many ways. Increase in the gingival epithelial thickness and alteration in the microvasculature can be associated with decreased clinical sings of inflammation and bleeding on probing. Aim: To histologically compare the epithelial thickness, vascular density, lumen area and the number of mast cells in the gingiva of smokers and non-smokers with chronic periodontitis. Materials and Methods: Gingival biopsies were obtained from 30 chronic periodontitis patients (15 smokers and 15 nonsmokers) undergoing due to poor periodontal prognosis. Two sections were obtained and were stained with Haematoxylin & Eosin (H&E) and toluidine blue. The epithelial thickness, vascular density, lumen area of blood vessels and number of mast cells were assessed using histomorphometric image analysis. Results: Results of this study showed that the mean epithelial thickness among smokers was significantly increased when compared to non-smokers. The vascular density (p-value 0.790), area of lumen (p-value 0.790) of blood vessels were more in smokers than in non-smokers but did not show any significant difference. The number of mast cells were increased in smokers with significant difference when compared with non-smokers. Conclusion: Based on the present histomorphometric study, it can be concluded that smokers have increased epithelial thickness which could be attributed to the reduced clinical signs of inflammation, but vascular density and lumen area were comparable to non-smokers. The mast cell density was higher in smokers which could be attributed to the increased disease severity.

Keywords

• gingival epithelium
• gingival microvasculature
• imagej analysis
• periodontal disease