Generalized Aggressive Periodontitis

Generalized Aggressive Periodontitis

Define aggressive periodontitis and write in detail on generalized aggressive periodontits.
Answer.

Generalized Aggressive Periodontitis

• It is usually characterized by the ‘general interproximal attachment loss affecting atleast three permanent teeth other than first molars and incisors.’
• Patients with generalized aggressive form may exhibit minimal amounts of microbial plaque associated with the affected teeth, i.e. quantitatively, the amount of plaque seems to be inconsistent with the amount of periodontal destruction; qualitatively, most pathogenic organisms may be associated, e.g. Porphyromonas gingivalis, A. actinomycetemcomitans, and Bacteroids forsythus.

Clinical Features

• Age and sex distribution: It affects person between puberty and 30 years, no sex discrimination.
• No specific pattern, all or most of the teeth are affected.
• Two types of gingival responses are seen, i.e. one is severe; acutely inflamed tissue which is often proliferating, ulcerated and fiery red, spontaneous bleeding and suppuration are commonly seen. In other cases, gingival tissue may appear pink and free of inflammation but deep pockets are seen by probing.
• Some of the persons may have systemic manifestations such as weight loss, mental depression and general malaise.
• Presence of poor serum antibody response.

Generalized Aggressive Periodontitis Radiographic Findings

Radiographic picture can range from severe bone loss associated with the minimal number of teeth, to advanced bone loss affecting the majority of teeth in the dentition.