Dental Glossary

The periodontal pocket is the space between the gum and the tooth as associated with periodontitis. If the depth of the sulcus has moved apically, or towards the root of the adjacent tooth, but has not yet breached the connective tissue fibers that connect the gingiva to the tooth, it would be termed a gingival pocket. If, however, the original depth has been violated so much that the gingival fibers that initially attached the gingival tissue to the tooth have been irreversibly destroyed, the sulcus is termed a periodontal pocket.