Trench mouth
DEFINITION
Trench mouth is a severe form of gingivitis that causes painful, infected, bleeding gums and ulcerations. Although trench mouth is rare today in developed nations, it’s common in developing countries that have poor nutrition and poor living conditions.
CAUSES
Your mouth naturally contains microorganisms, including fungi, viruses and bacteria. If your immune system, which fights infections, is weak, its ability to fight harmful bacteria is lowered. This can result in trench mouth, where harmful bacteria grow out of control, causing infection of your gums. This infection can damage or destroy the delicate gum tissue (gingiva) that surrounds and supports your teeth.
Large ulcers, often filled with bacteria, food debris and decaying tissue, may form on your gums, leading to severe pain, bad breath and a foul taste in your mouth. Exactly how these bacteria destroy gum tissue isn’t known, but it’s likely that enzymes and toxins produced by the bacteria play a role.
SYMPTOMS
Signs and symptoms of trench mouth can include:
- Severe gum pain
- Bleeding from gums when they’re pressed even slightly
- Red or swollen gums
- Pain when eating or swallowing
- Gray film on your gums
- Crater-like sores (ulcers) between your teeth and on your gums
- Foul taste in your mouth
- Bad breath
- Fever and fatigue (malaise)
- Swollen lymph nodes around your head, neck or jaw
When to see a dentist
Trench mouth symptoms can develop quickly. See your dentist immediately if you develop any symptoms. Often these may be symptoms of a gum problem other than trench mouth, such as another form of gingivitis or a gum infection called periodontitis.
All forms of gum disease can be serious, and most tend to get worse without treatment. The sooner you seek care, the better your chance of returning your gums to a healthy state and preventing permanent loss of teeth and destruction of bone or other tissue.
