The

gingiva The gums or gingiva (plural: ''gingivae'') consist of the mucosal tissue that lies over the mandible and maxilla inside the mouth. Gum health and disease can have an effect on general health. Structure The gums are part of the soft tissue lini ...

often possess a textured surface that is referred to as being stippled (engraved points). Stippling only presents on the attached gingiva bound to underlying

alveolar bone The alveolar process () or alveolar bone is the thickened ridge of bone that contains the tooth sockets on the jaw bones (in humans, the maxilla and the mandible). The structures are covered by gums as part of the oral cavity. The synonymous ter ...

, not the freely moveable

alveolar mucosa The oral mucosa is the mucous membrane lining the inside of the mouth. It comprises stratified squamous epithelium, termed "oral epithelium", and an underlying connective tissue termed ''lamina propria''. The oral cavity has sometimes been describ ...

or free gingiva. 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. The degree of

keratinization Keratin () is one of a family of structural fibrous proteins also known as ''scleroproteins''. Alpha-keratin (α-keratin) is a type of keratin found in vertebrates. It is the key structural material making up scales, hair, nails, feathers, ho ...

and the prominence of stippling appear to be related. To be more specific, stippling occurs at sites of fusion of the epithelial ridges (also known as

rete pegs Rete pegs (also known as rete processes or rete ridges) are the epithelial extensions that project into the underlying connective tissue in both skin and mucous membranes. In the epithelium of the mouth, the attached gingiva exhibit rete pegs, whi ...

-depression of epithelium) and correspond to the fusion of the valleys created by the connective tissue papillae (elevation of connective tissue papilla. An example of stippling could be dots found in basketball or an orange.

References

Gingiva {{dentistry-stub