A thorough study of the literature of the past twenty years dealing with hypertrophic gingival lesions shows few reports and these have been largely in the European literature. With the exception of articles by Mead1 and Keilty,2 they have dealt almost exclusively with hypertrophy, epuli and other fibromatous growths due to various endocrine and mechanical disturbances such as: those during pregnancy (Monash3), those during puberty (Tempestini4) and those due to endocrine changes. Hirschfeld,5 in this country, has written an extensive review of mechanical and irritative factors in the production of gingival hypertrophy and has briefly described an infectious type.
It has been our privilege to see three cases of infection of the gums with the symptoms of an acute infectious disease. These were witnessed during the six months previous to this writing and consisted of a subacute case and two acute cases. It is our