[Notes on the current discussion on the etiology of periodontopathies]

The aetiology and the therapy of periodontal diseases are main points of stomatological research. As to the methodological approach to aetiological studies, the use of materialistic dialectic proves profitable. For example, conclusions as to therapy result from the exact analysis of and the distinction between the causes of a disease and the pathogenic factors. In this way the exact evaluation of the importance of the known pathogenic factors becomes possible. The concept of multicausality proves to be unfavourable for the orientation to priority problems in aetiological research.