[Studies on the response of epithelial cells of the hard palate to prolonged pressure exerted by prosthesis].

Microscopic examination was done of biopsy material of hard palate mucosa in healthy subjects with normal teeth and in edentulous patients with a long history of complete upper prostheses. The examination in transmission electron microscope included cells of the multilayer flat-cell epithelium of the mucosa covering the hard palate. Isolated cilia were found in the cells of the germinative layer and in the lamina propria of the mucosa where they penetrated from the epithelium across the basement membrane. The cilia were present in a significantly higher number of cells in hard palate epithelium subjected to long-term pressure exerted by the prosthesis. On the basis of observations of the structure of cilia and its environment one may assume that this apparatus may serve as an epithelial receptor of local changes produced by long-term and changing pressure of the mucosa through the mediation of masticatory forces transmitted onto the mucosa by the plate of the prosthesis.