Glossary
Gingiva
Alternate terms: Gums.
The soft tissue which surrounds the teeth and is commonly referred to as "gums" or "gum tissue". There are two types of gingiva—"attached" and "free". Healthy attached gingiva is a coral pink color (with brown melanin pigment present in some people), has a stippled appearance, and does not have visible blood vessels due to its tough, thick, keratinized surface.
Attached gingiva is bound to the underlying bone and part of the tooth root cementum via fibrous attachments known as "Sharpey's Fibers." Free gingiva is thinner and more delicate, and has visible blood vessels through its thin overlying mucosa.
Learn more: Diagnoses › Gingivitis
The photograph shows healthy gingiva on the facial surface of the lower front teeth. A healthy gingival papilla fills the gaps between teeth that occur where the teeth taper into the jawbone. This produces a scalloped appearance around the teeth, and keeps food from being trapped in those spaces (known as "gingival embrasures").
A periodontal measuring probe inserted between the tooth and gingival cuff ("sulcus") generally does not go in more than 3 millimeters in healthy gingiva, and no bleeding occurs.
Healthy keratinized tissue is coral pink, has a stippled appearance, with knife-edge margins where it runs up against the tooth enamel. It is thick, tough, and attached to the underlying teeth and bone. It is easily distinguished from the darker, more vascular appearing mucosa in this photograph.
Mucosa is thin, vascular, stretchy soft tissue that connects the attached gingiva to the cheeks, lips, and floor of the mouth. Mucosa forms the floor and facial wall of the "vestibule", the other wall of which is formed by the alveolar (tooth-supporting) bone.
The frenum shown in the photograph is a small muscle attachment having its origin at approximately the mucogingival junction (MGJ), and its insertion in the soft tissues of the lip.
Soft tissue covering the palate is shown. The underlying bone is the maxilla. Ruggae are corrugations in the thick (keratinized) tissues of the palate. The median palatal raphe is a tendonous sheath that covers the area where the two halves of the maxilla fuse around the time of adolescence. The incisive papilla is located over the underlying nasopalatine nerve, which provides sensation to the anterior part of the palate (see "maxilla")."Papillae" arising between the teeth are called "interproximal papillae", which are projections of gingival tissue that fill the spaces between teeth where they taper into the jaw bone. Healthy papillae give the characteristic scalloped profile to the gums.
