Medicine: Hormones for Gums

To the "four out of five who have it," gingivitis, forerunner of pyorrhea, is no laughing matter. No toothpastes or mouthwashes will repair inflamed, bleeding gums, usually the result of illness, some vitamin deficiency or pregnancy. Fearsome is the name (desquamative gingivitis] for what happens when the outer layer of the gums begins to slough off. When bacteria invade the soft tissues, pyorrhea comes into its own.

Standard care of gingivitis may consist of X-rays. Vitamin C, liver extracts, antiseptic applications. It often requires the better part of a year. Last week Dr. Daniel Eleazar Ziskin of Columbia University's Dental School reported an effective, new treatment for gingivitis: sex hormone massage.

As doctors well know, the application of sex hormones toughens the delicate mucous membranes of the nose. Several years ago, Dr. Ziskin noted that 20 women receiving sex hormones for menstrual difficulties all had stout, germ-resistant mouth linings, and firm, ruddy gums. So he tried massaging the gums of monkeys with salves of testosterone, or oestrogen, the male and female sex hormones. After long experiments, results were so good that he rubbed testosterone on the bleeding gums of two men, oestrogen on the gums of one woman.

Promptly (in some cases within 24 hours), their gums began to harden, and healthy new tissue began to form the outer keratin layer, forming "a coat of armor" against bacteria. "This improvement," said Dr. Ziskin last week, "was seen not only in cases which had been partially helped by other methods, but also in the stubborn cases which showed no evidences of healing under routine procedure." In some cases, treatment was carried on over a period of two or three months.

Dr. Ziskin made it clear that only skilled doctors and dentists could apply the healing salves, for the body's hormone balance is very delicate. Sex hormone toothpastes, he warned, might gum up the body's works far worse than gingivitis.