Frequency of Entamoeba gingivalis in human gingival scrapings.

A survey was made of gingival scrapings stained by the Papanicolaou method to assess the occurrence of Entamoeba gingivalis, a nonpathogenic-oral amoeba. Positive findings were recorded in 59% of 113 dental patients, and 32% of 96 healthy controls. These figures showed no significant changes during the last 20 years when compared with data published in 1960 and 1963. The existence of E. gingivalis and its rare appearance in the sputum should be known to cytologists because of the morphologic resemblance to Entamoeba histolytica, a pathogenic amoeba. Morphologic features are described to differentiate E. gingivalis from similar structures found in sputum.