Herpes Simplex Virus 1 (HSV‐1) can induce ulcerative lesions of the gingival margin leading to deep gingival recessions. Contrarily to gingival recessions induced by periodontitis or mechanical trauma, gingival recessions induced by HSV‐1 have fast onset/progression and viral etiopathogenesis.

In all cases, the gingiva exhibits painful swelling and erythema; in addition, characteristic “punched-out” erosions may be evident along the midfacial free gingival margin. Lesions also can involve other oral sites, such as the labial mucosa, lip vermilion, buccal mucosa, and tongue.

Another manifestation of herpetic primary stomatitis is an acute inflammation of the gingival margin and attached gingiva which is not accompanied by vesicular lesions. Inflammatory macroglossia is sometimes observed simultaneously. 9 Herpetic geometric glossitis is described as an uncommon clinical manifestation of a primary HSV‐1 infection ...

Adjacent lesions may coalesce to form irregular ulcerations. Lesions may involve buccal mucosa, tongue, posterior pharynx, and any gingival and palatal mucosae. Moreover, the affected gingivae often exhibit discernible erosions along the midfacial free gingival margins, and these may precede the appearance of the mucosal vesicles [3, 12 ...

viral etiology of gingival recessions when herpetic ulcers are located to the gingival margin. Other herpes viruses like Epstein–Barr virus and Cytomegalovirus were associ-ated with severe types of oral disease, including increased gingival inflammation and periodontal attachment loss,7 periodontal abscesses,8 acute necrotizing ulcerative gingi-