Trench mouth, also known as acute necrotizing ulcerative gingivitis or GUNA, is a very rare disease today. The characteristic nickname comes from the fact that it used to affect war soldiers, due to the unhealthy conditions and habits that arose during conflicts.
It presents in the form of an acute and painful infection in which the gums bleed, with a necrosis of the papillae and an attack on the general oral condition. According to studies, it is currently linked to AIDS, since acquired immunodeficiency usually causes oral pathologies in 90% of these patients.
What causes it?
Trench mouth is a painful form of gum inflammation, something known as gingivitis . The bacterial species Bacillus fusiformis and Borrelia Vincentii are associated with the lesions presented here, although they are not the only ones.
As scientific studies indicate, 4 areas are differentiated in the affected region:
Bacterial: composed of a large mass of bacteria with different morphologies and characteristics. These do not have to be harmful in the first instance, since it is their excessive proliferation that causes the disease.
Rich in neutrophils: Neutrophils are the most abundant leukocytes in the blood and one of the first to reach infectious foci. They are part of the pus and appear, in this case, under the bacterial region.
Necrotic: it is the place where cell death occurs. Here the spirochetes, a type of bacteria with an elongated and helical shape, dominate.
Spirochetal infiltration: the last layer, in which the spirochetes infiltrate and other types of bacteria are not observed.
According to the United States National Library of Medicine, trench mouth bacterial overgrowth can be triggered by the following factors: stress, poor oral hygiene, smoking, malnutrition, and a weak immune system.
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