[Pitfalls in the treatment of periodontitis].

The author point out that periodontitis is a disease of multiple aetiology and indicate two types of pitfall: traps in conceiving the plan of treatment and traps in carrying out treatment. The treatment plan may be incomplete. The authors show that the deepest types of vertical alveolysis are always related to occlusal or functional imbalance and that treatment based only upon hygiene and periodontal surgery represents a pitfall.

[Current concepts concerning the etiopathogenicity of periodontitis : therapeutic applications (author's transl)].

The authors describe the various etiological types of periodontopathies and discuss those due to inflammatory conditions in greater detail. The original studies that enabled the role of the bacterial plaque to be demonstrated are reviewed, and new data presented which attributes a specific pathogenic action to certain bacterial strains in this particular form of the disease, without suggesting that they are the only etiological factor involved. The importance of occlusal injury in periodontal disease is then evaluated, results of clinical studies tending to confirm the role of traumatic factors in the progression of alveolysis.