Aggressive periodontitis
Aggressive periodontitis describes a type of periodontal disease and includes two of the seven classifications of periodontitis as defined by the 1999 classification system:
- Localized aggressive periodontitis (LAP)
- Generalized aggressive periodontitis (GAP)
LAP is localised to first molar or incisor interproximal attachment loss, whereas GAP is the interproximal attachment loss affecting at least three permanent teeth other than incisors and first molar. The prevalence of LAP is less than 1% and that of GAP is 0.13%. Approximately 0.1% of white Caucasians (with 0.1% in northern and in central Europe, 0.5% in southern Europe, and 0.1-0.2% in North America) and 2.6% of black Africans may have LAP. Estimates of the disease prevalence are 1-5% in the African population and in groups of African descent, 2.6% in African-Americans, 0.5-1.0% in Hispanics in North America, 0.3-2.0% in South America, and 0.2-1.0% in Asia. On the other hand, in Asia, the prevalence rate of 1.2% for LAP and 0.6% for GAP in Baghdad and Iran population, and 0.47% in Japanese population.
Therefore, the prevalence of LAP varies considerably between continents, and differences in race or ethnicity seem to be a major contributing factor.
Aggressive periodontitis is much less common than chronic periodontitis and generally affects younger patients than does the chronic form. Around 1 in every 1000 patients experience more rapid loss of attachment. Males seem to be at higher risk of GAP than females
The localized and generalized forms are not merely different in extent; they differ in etiology and pathogenesis.