A specific type of periodontitis with unmistakably identifiable clinical and laboratory findings that make it sufficiently different from chronic periodontitis to warrant a separate classification. Aggressive periodontitis occurs in patients who are otherwise clinically healthy (except for periodontal disease). Usual features include rapid attachment loss and bone destruction. Patients with aggressive periodontitis generally exhibit amounts of microbial plaque that are inconsistent with the severity of periodontal destruction, phagocyte abnormalities, and increased levels of Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans and possibly Porphyromonas gingivalis. The generalized form of aggressive periodontitis was formerly referred to as generalized juvenile periodontitis, Aggressive periodontitis usually affects persons younger than 30 years but patients may be older. Normally, there is widespread interproximal attachment loss affecting at least three teeth other than first molars and incisors, and there is a well‐defined intermittent nature regarding the destruction of attachment and alveolar bone. The serum antibody response may be lacking or insufficient in response to the infecting agents. Aggressive periodontitis localized form was formerly termed localized juvenile periodontitis. It has many of the common features of aggressive periodontitis generalized form but the onset occurs at puberty. Localized first molar/incisor involvement with interproximal attachment loss has been associated with a first molar and/or incisor and not more than two other teeth. The localized form typically demonstrates a vigorous serum antibody response to infecting agents.
Periodontitis in which alveolar bone loss and ligament failure occur rapidly, resulting in dental mobility and sometimes exfoliation (loss of teeth). The disease often begins in adolescence and may cluster in families.