Acute Necrotizing Ulcerative Gingivitis
When poor oral hygiene is combined with serious life stress and
possibly nutritional deficiencies, the result can be Acute Necrotizing
Ulcerative Gingivitis, or ANUG. Another name of it is trench mouth. It can
be painful, and it is characterized by areas where the gum tissue has
become so inflamed that it has died, or become necrotic. These areas will
be small ulcers, and will be grayish in color, and will tend to slough
off. The tissue will be generally swollen, and where it isn't dead, it
will bleed very easily. The photograph below illustrates the tendency to bleed, and the grayish areas of dead tissue that characterize trench mouth.
ANUG is an infection of the gums. Certain bacteria including fusiform
bacteria and spirochetes have been thought to be involved, but the full
story behind this long-known disease is still not clear.
This condition is also called Vincent's angina, named after the French
physician Henri Vincent (1862-1950). The word "angina" is derived from the
Latin word "angere" which means "to choke or to throttle."
Other names used to describe acute necrotizing ulcerative gingivitis are:
