Stressed whites especially prone to 'trench mouth,' study finds

An attack of "trench mouth," or acute necrotizing ulcerative gingivitis (ANUG), has been associated with emotional disorders and high levels of psychosocial stress for some time. Now a new study not only pinpoints some of the resulting immunologic and endocrine dysfunctions but shows, rather surprisingly, that the condition affects many more whites than blacks. One hundred ANUG patients referred to the periodontal clinic were the volunteer subjects of a three-year study carried out by Ronald B. Cogen, DDS, PhD, associate professor of dentistry, University of Alabama School of Dentistry, Birmingham, and coinvestigators Alvin W. Stevens, Jr, DMD, associate professor of dentistry, and Steven A. Cohen-Cole, MD, associate professor of psychiatry at the university's medical school. Like ANUG patients in general, these patients were relatively young, ranging in age from 14 to 35 years with a mean of 23.9 years. Males constituted 40% of the group. In contrast to the general