Cellular Elements in the Saliva of Infants before and after Eruption of Teeth

Abstract

Infants with teeth showed an increase in leukocytes and a consistently high amount of epithelial cells. The salivary leukocyte count in an edentulous group was extremely low, and the number of epithelial cells was high. The eruption of additional deciduous teeth increases the amount of white blood cells in the saliva. These results tend to confirm that the gingival sulcus is a major source of leukocytes in saliva.