Fig. 5: The periodontal ligament (PDL) space in infected mice was significantly wider when compared to the PDL space in controls.

a, b The PDL-space was measured as the distance between the tooth and bone in control (ai) and infected (bi) groups. PDL space is shown as a color map on the root surface of the control (aii) and infected (bii) teeth, and as a pseudo ligament in virtual sections of both control (aiii), and infected (biii) teeth. Color maps are indicative of distance between roots (*) of molars and alveolar bone of the periodontal complexes of control (a) and infected (b) mice. c Distribution of PDL spaces in control (solid) and infected (dotted) mice (i) indicate that PDL-spaces in infected mice have a larger variance (broaden peak) and a widened PDL space compared to lower variance (narrower peak) and uniform PDL space in controls (ii). d Left and right tables demonstrate peak values and peak widths of the PDL space in control (top row) and infected (bottom row) mice. No significant difference in peak values of respective PDL spaces between groups was observed (p = 0.18). However, a significant difference between peak widths (p = 0.007) indicated that the PDL-space in infected mice on average was significantly widened (>100 µm) compared to that of controls. Data represent mean ± s.d.