Desquamative gingivitis. Clinical, histopathologic, and immunopathologic investigations.
Desquamative gingivitis is not a disease sui generis but is a descriptive term for a condition that requires thorough clinical evaluation and histopathologic and immunopathologic studies for accurate diagnosis. The present study emphasizes this statement. Six of seven patients with "desquamative gingivitis" were placed in a category of "possible cicatricial pemphigoid." During a 3-year observation period, five of six cases evolved into unequivocal cicatricial pemphigoid. Our studies lend credence to a hypothesis that immunopathologic mechanisms are operative in some forms of desquamative gingivitis.
D000368:Aged; D001485:Basement Membrane / Q000276:immunology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D005891:Gingivitis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007158:Immunologic Techniques; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009059:Mouth Diseases / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D012872:Skin Diseases, Vesiculobullous / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology