Talk:gingiva
Usage[edit]
How is the term used?
Does one person have one gingiva or two gingivae (upper gingiva around the upper teeth, lower gingiva around the lower teeth)? If one person has one gingiva, have multiple people multiple gingivae or do they have gingiva (uncountable like snow, flesh)? Is it an uncountable singularetantum and pluraletantum with number depending on the author like some people saying "a person has gingiva" and others saying "a person has gingivae"?
(Geman Zahnfleisch is uncountable: One person has Zahnfleisch around the upper and the lower teeth, and multiple people have Zahnfleisch (not *Zahnfleische). As for Scientific German Gingiva, refering to a single person or mouth its used in the singular even for upper and lower flesh and when there are multiple types of flesh like "freie und befestigte Gingiva". Its also used in singular refering to multiple people though such usage seems to be rarer: "Die Gingiva vieler kindlicher Mundhöhlen".) -84.161.63.229 02:29, 28 March 2018 (UTC)