Acute Necrotizing Ulcerative Gingivitis - Etiology

Etiology

Necrotizing periodontal disease is caused by a bacterial infection that includes anaerobes such as P. intermedia and Fusobacterium as well as spirochetes, such as Borrelia and Treponema.

In the late 1980s-early 1990s, it was originally thought that necrotizing periodontal diseases were strictly a sequela of HIV, and it was even called HIV-associated periodontitis. It is now understood that its association with HIV/AIDS was due to the immunocompromised status of such patients, and it occurs with higher prevalence in association with other diseases in which the immune system is compromised.