Role of Herpes viruses in Chronic periodontitis – A short review

Periodontal disease is an inflammatory condition of the supporting tissues of the teeth. It is a multi-factorial and multi-etiological infectious disease process. The most commonly reported etiological agents from this condition are anaerobes. Bacterial etiology alone cannot explain the clinic‑pathological features observed in the disease. Thus, efforts to find out additional etiological agents for chronic periodontitis are necessary. Recent evidences show that human herpes viruses could be putative pathogens. According to this concept various studies have been conducted concerning the contribution of herpes viruses in etiopathogenesis of the chronic periodontitis. Thus, this short review gives an insight of the role of Herpes viruses especially; Herpes simplex viruses (HSV-1 and 2) Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) in patients with chronic periodontitis.