Measurement of Oral Adhesions

Oral adhesions were assessed on coronal sections and defined as regions of the oral cavity with contact between opposing epithelia. They were measured spatially in the x/y and z directions. Oral adhesions in the x/y directions were measured as previously described (Kousa et al. 2017). A representative section was selected on which the length of the maxillary epithelium was measured and compared with the length of the maxillary epithelium in contact with opposing structures. The depth of the adhesion (z direction) was calculated by counting the number of successive sections in which epithelia were in contact and multiplying by section thickness.