Acute necrotizing ulcerative gingivitis is associated with attachment loss.

Acute necrotizing ulcerative gingivitis (ANUG) has been generally considered as a gingivitis. However, clinical impressions suggest that periodontal attachment loss is one of the sequelae of the disease. This study was designed to investigate the extent of probing attachment loss detectable following resolution of the acute phase of the disease. 13 patients (3 male, 10 female) aged on average 22.7 years were studied. The presence of interdental soft tissue cratering was used to determine whether a site was previously affected by ANUG. ANUG sites were compared with other sites using a paired Student t-test (N = 13). Patient mean probing attachment level was greater for ANUG sites (2.2 +/- 0.9) than for the mean of all other sites (0.8 +/- 0.7). It is concluded that greater loss of probing attachment is associated with sites affected by ANUG than with other sites studied.