This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Krasse, B. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Krasse, B. Pubmed/NCBI databases Compound via MeSH Substance via MeSH Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Serendipity or Luck: Stumbling on Gingival Crevicular Fluid

The word "serendipity" comes from the tale "The Three Princes from Serendip" by Horace Walpole. It is defined as "an aptitude for making fortunate discoveries accidentally". The demonstration of crevicular fluid was truly an accidental discovery. Niels Brill, a successful private practitioner in Copenhagen with prosthodontics as a specialty, and Bo Krasse, associate professor of cariology, were examining the microflora of gingival pockets in a dog. Before the samples were taken, gingiva and teeth were disinfected with an iodine solution. The solution disappeared from different pockets at different speeds. After intravenous injection of a fluorescein solution, the occurrence of fluorescein could be recorded on filter paper strips. Thus, after stumbling on the disappearance of iodine from the cervical areas of the teeth, two nonperiodontologists managed to demonstrate why it disappeared. This article describes the details of the discovery and subsequent studies, and offers some reflections by one of the original authors 37 years later.

Journal of Dental Research, Vol. 75, No. 9, 1627-1630 (1996)
DOI: 10.1177/00220345960750090201


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?