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The medium I decided to use for the visualization of pregnancy gingivitis is a caricature drawing which focuses on the mouth. The caricature is separated into left and right with the left being male with some plaque but healthy gums with localized gingivitis towards the back, while the right shows a visually pregnant female with red, puffy, and bleeding gums. The gingivitis experienced during pregnancy is due to the rise in hormones affecting not only the micro-circulatory system in the mother but also affects the bacteria in the mouth leading to a greater risk for gingivitis. This isn’t representative that men are less likely to get gingivitis or that someone who is pregnant will end up with inflamed, bleeding gums. Interestingly is that if either half of the image is covered, the caricature doesn’t look creepy and looks fitting for the gender.
Why did you choose this project?
I am in the dental field and it is always interesting to learn more about the nature of the mouth and how it affects the whole body or how the body affects your oral health. I knew that women are more likely to get gingivitis when they are pregnant and to learn more information about why is always interesting. To a certain extent, I couldn’t figure out a way to visually show how it differs from regular gingivitis without getting extremely literal. My initial idea was to do three drawing of 3 separate mouths for comparison and eventually had an idea to have a caricature with the focus on the mouth. Unfortunately since the changes are a cause of the rise in hormones affecting the oral bacteria, I couldn’t think of a way to show that even with this style.
I really enjoy Dustin Caricature, like my project his objective was hormones and the changes they cause during pregnancy, at first is was kind of hard to see where he was going and then I remembered how hormones are involve in everything. I like the idea of focusing the caricature in the mouth. I enjoy learning about the different illness that women are expose during pregnancy since I want to be a midwife. In Dustin’s caricature I can see the redness in the gums, and extra plaque that builds up in our teeth, by the darker red areas I imagine he is trying to show the swelling in the gums due to the gingivitis.
Gingivitis is one of those illnesses that some people ignore. .