4 minute read
The great battle of Gingivitis
A fictional tale about the ongoing battle between the inhabitants of the Kingdom of Gingiva and the evil nation of Biofilm
Story by: Jesse Kourakis, Victoria Abela, Rehka Akula and Brianna Carswell – 1st Year Advanced Diploma of Oral Health (ADOH) Students TAFESA.
THIS IS A creative writing piece written by first year ADOH Students from Gilies Plaines TAFE SA.
Their task was to create a story, dialogue or video about the pathogenesis of gingivitis. Ensure that you include the histological stages of development of disease and provide and explanation for the clinical signs of the disease.
CHAPTER 1 Initial Lesion
Once upon a time there existed an evil nation, called Biofilm, that sought to expand their dominion in our great Kingdom of Gingiva.
Due to a period of long-lasting peace, we began to neglect the care of our Kingdom and the nation of Biofilm began to grow in number and encroach on our epithelial borders.
The first assault happened two to four days after they accumulated their army. They released a poison into our Kingdom which began to wreak havoc amongst our land.
The sentries, called Neutrophils and Mast Cells, discovered this invasion and sent messengers for back up. This allowed the roads (blood vessels - vasodilation) to be cleared to ensure back up soldiers could move quickly to the site of invasion.
The flood gates to the Kingdoms surrounding moats were also ordered to open. These filled up with plasma fluid to create a protective barrier and flowed out beyond the Epithelial border in the hope to slow the enemy down.
The Neutrophils mobilised and gathered in force to form the first line of defence, otherwise known as, “Operation Chemotaxis”, and migrated directly to the site of insult.
It was lucky that we were prepared for these kinds of attacks. All seemed to be going well, and so far, our defences were holding. As long as the Epithelial Junction at the border held, we would have nothing to worry about.
CHAPTER 2 Early Lesion
Unfortunately, things took a bit of a southward turn and things started to worsen. The Biofilm Nation was just too strong and began to build in number and accumulate further into our territory. They began to fortify within our land by building the foundations of a plaque wall near the Epithelial border and from here they continued to assault our Kingdom. At this point we were seven days into battle.
While the Neutrophils continued to fight the invasion at the border, some Biofilm Bacteria soldiers had managed to break the defences and move into the Kingdom.
We had no choice but to call on the PMN soldiers to bombard the site of invasion. Unfortunately, in doing so, it also meant we lost many important collagen structures along the way as a result of their destructive Enzyme powers – a price that had to be paid.
It wasn’t all bad news. At the same time, we were able to call on our other divisions, namely the Lymphocytes, which released Growth Factors that helped fortify our defences by creating blood rivers (capillaries) so more reinforcements could quickly arrive in our defence.
At that time soldiers were fighting everywhere, and many structures were being destroyed. The Epithelial border also unfortunatelybegan forming ridges, which wasn’t the best sign. All the while the flood gates were fully open, and the newly formed capillaries were painting the battle ground a bloody red.
It wasn’t looking the greatest, but we were hopeful! The Epithelial Junction at the border, though becoming a little battered, was still holding strong. If the onslaught ceased, we would definitely be able to bring this around.
CHAPTER 3 Established Lesion
Okay, so we might have been a little too hopeful as things weren’t looking very good. The onslaught had continued for weeks and we were now 21 days into the battle.
It was an all-out war!
The Biofilm Nation had further fortified their Plaque Wall, which now consisted of huge defensive structures and weapons of mass destruction. Their Bacteria soldiers continued to multiply and invade our border. We continued to call on reinforcements; macrophages, lymphocytes, plasma cells… we were throwing everything at this enemy and soldiers were dying left, right and centre.More of our Kingdoms Collagen structures were being destroyed and the ridges on the Epithelial border were growing in size. The Epithelial Junction, the main protective barrier, had become so ulcerated it finally loosened and gave in. A great pocket opened up and the border became weaker and weaker. More bacteria soldiers flowed into our Kingdom and we were beginning to lose hope. Even the capillaries were losing flow and becoming stagnant. Everything was stained red and due to the lack of new blood things were beginning to darken - everyone was looking pretty blue.
How could we recover from this? Was it too late? Even if we managed to destroy the enemy, would we be able to fully repair the damage that was caused?
This war will go down in history, and forever leave its mark. The Great battle of Gingivitis…
To be continued...
