EFFECTS OF ACUTE FEBRILE DISEASES ON THE PERIODONTIUM OF RHESUS MONKEYS WITH REFERENCE TO POLIOMYELITIS

A GREAT number of systemic diseases have been listed as contributing to, 1A, or even causing the occurrence of periodontal disease. " 4 23 Acute febrile diseases have been considered to be important in the pathogenesis of periodontal disease, especially since Gottlieb" ' 12 described diffuse atrophy of the alveolar bone in a young man who died of influenza. Talbot4 " noted as early as 1899 an association between eruptive fever and impairment of the periodontal tissues. Acute febrile diseases have been mentioned as part of the complex of systemic diseases which might cause periodontal disease. " 5, 29 Patients frequently recall soreness of the teeth, gingival tenderness, and hem-orrhage which have occurred during an attack of acute febrile disease. They therefore associate elevation of temperature as an initiating factor in perio-dontal disease. No studies have been reported in which the gingival conditions were ob-served before, during, and after attacks of acute febrile disease. The theory of a relationship between this group of diseases and periodontal disease ha