This study examined the relationship between clinical indices and the histologic parameters associated with the gingiva of the human deciduous dentition. The plaque index, gingival swelling and color, probing depth, bleeding on probing, contact with adjacent teeth and the degree of root resorption of 58 deciduous teeth were recorded. The teeth were extracted with their surrounding gingiva and prepared for histologic examination. The area of epithelium and connective tissue with and without inflammatory cells was measured as well as the epithelial length from the gingival margin including the junctional epithelium. When these measurements were grouped according to the values of the clinical indices, nonmobile teeth were found to have less epithelium than those with mobility and gingiva with a healthy color had a significantly smaller inflammatory cell infiltrate than red gingiva. Bleeding and increased probing depth were not associated with the other clinical signs of inflammation. The amount of plaque did not correlate with the measures of clinical inflammation. The inflammatory cell infiltrate was present irrespective of whether the gingiva was clinically normal or not and the inflammation did not correlate with the amount of plaque.