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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.

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• Dr. Krasse is Professor emeritus, Göteborg University, Faculty of Odontology, Medicinaregatan 12, S-413 90 Goteborg, Sweden.

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


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This Article Abstract Full Text (PDF) 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. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?