Forsyth Institute Receives $20.7 to Fight Periodontal Disease

Forsyth Institute Receives $20.7 to Fight Periodontal Disease

The Forsyth Institute , the world’s leading independent, oral health research organization, has received $20.7 million to fight periodontal disease. Three related projects will study periodontal disease progression from microbiological, genetic, host immune response and clinical perspectives. This research, funded by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), will take place over a four-year period. The ultimate goal is to gain an understanding of why people develop gum disease, how the disease progresses, how to predict active disease before it occurs, and ultimately, how therapies can be developed to improve periodontal and overall health.

According to the Forsyth Institute, forty percent of adults in the United States have some form of periodontal disease. It is one of the most common infectious diseases and, in its more severe forms, causes loss of the bone that supports the teeth. In addition, there are strong associations between periodontal disease and systemic diseases including diabetes, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, pre-term birth, and certain cancers.

Previous work at Forsyth has demonstrated that the progression of the disease is not continuous, but is episodic. Thus, to understand its pathogenesis, patients must be studied to identify sites in the mouth that are undergoing active disease progression, which is the focus of these studies.  The Forsyth projects, respectively led by Dr. Ricardo Teles, Director of the Center for Clinical and Translational Research; Dr. Bruce Paster, Head, Department of Molecular Genetics; and Dr. Jorge Frias-Lopez, Assistant Member of Staff, Department of Molecular Genetics, will examine clinical parameters, expression of host derived molecules, bacterial ecology, and bacterial gene expression during active disease. It will also seek to identify biomarkers in blood, saliva, and gingival crevicular fluid (a fluid that oozes from the gum margin) samples from 500 individuals, both with and without existing gum disease. The data gathered by Forsyth’s scientists as well as aliquots of the samples will be made available to the scientific community and will represent the largest available information base and depository of samples for periodontal disease.

“The knowledge developed through these three linked projects will provide unique and extraordinarily valuable insights into the periodontal disease process, as well as serve as a one of a kind resource to the scientific community,” said Philip Stashenko, President and CEO of The Forsyth Institute. “This work represents the multidisciplinary epitome of periodontal disease research. We may be able to finally lay a firm foundation to understand why periodontal disease progresses. It is extremely rare for three projects to receive awards linked to one clinical trial, and this support from NIDCR is a testament to the promise of this research.”

The three projects were funded due to the strength of each projects and the overall potential impact of the collaborative research. The Forsyth team will also work with four other oral health research centers around the country. The Michigan Center for Oral Health Research is the first clinical research partner. Four additional research facilities will join the project shortly.

Early Periodontal Treatment Staves Off Preterm Labor

Healthy Gums Equal Healthy Babies

Early Periodontal Treatment Staves Off Preterm Labor

Successfully treating advanced gum disease in pregnant women can significantly reduce the risk of preterm birth according to new research published in the September edition of the British Journal of Gynaecology.

Previous research has shown that women with periodontal disease are at risk for premature labor and delivery.

In this study, dentists and doctors evaluated 322 pregnant women divided into two groups: those who received periodontal treatment and those who did not. All of the women received at-home care instructions from a dental hygienist, as well as home-care supplies, such as toothbrushes, dental floss and toothpaste, but the women in the untreated group received no hands-on treatment as part of the study.

The women in the treatment group received dental scaling and root planing from a hygienist before the end of the first trimester of their pregnancies. These women were six times more likely to carry their babies to full term (past 35 weeks’ gestation) than were the women in the other group.

Based on these findings, the authors of the study have recommended that pregnant women with periodontal disease should receive root planning and dental scaling before the end of their first trimester of pregnancy to help reduce the incidence of spontaneous preterm birth.

Study Finds Hormones, Number of Pregnancies Affects Women’s Risk of Caries

Study Finds Hormones, Number of Pregnancies Affects Women’s Risk of Caries

Dr. John Lukacs, Ph.D., a professor of anthropology at the University of Oregon, believes that he has found the reason that women tend to have more cavities than men, and why some women tend to have more cavities than others.

According to Lukac, male and female children seem to have a similar number of caries. The numbers start to change, however, as children become adolescents because of the dramatic increase of estrogen in females as they mature.

Women become even more prone to caries throughout their childbearing years, particularly during times of pregnancy, which are, coincidentally, times of increased estrogen production. In fact, women’s estrogen levels increase steadily during pregnancy until birth.  

According to Lukacs, females produce less saliva than men. Saliva has two important components: enzymes that break down complex sugars in the mouth, and antibodies that attack the microbes responsible for cavities. Having less saliva, then, puts women at a much greater risk for developing cavities.

In addition, it appears women’s saliva has less of an antimicrobial effect when they are pregnant.

To add insult to injury, women often crave sugary, high-energy, high-carbohydrate foods during pregnancy, so when they eat these foods, their saliva has less of a protecting effect, and their teeth are already at risk from the increased estrogen.

“The role of female-specific factors has been denied by anthropologists, yet they attain considerable importance in the model proposed here, because the adoption of agriculture is associated with increased sedentism and fertility,” Lukacs concluded in the October 2008 issue of Current Anthropology. “I argue that the rise of agriculture increased demands on women’s reproductive systems, contributing to an increase in fertility that intensified the negative impact of dietary change on women’s oral health. The combined impacts of increased fertility, dietary changes and division of labor during the move into agricultural societies contributed to the widespread gender differential observed in dental caries rates today… If hormonal and physiological factors work in an independent or additive manner, their impact on women’s oral health could be significant. The fact that women’s caries experience increases with age at a greater rate than men’s in diverse ethnic groups from different ecological and cultural settings supports this interpretation.”

The Dangers of Periodontal Disease During Pregnancy

Pregnant Women Put Themselves and Baby at Risk With Poor Gum Health

Pregnant women have many things they need to be aware of and concerned about. Don’t eat too much fish so you’re not exposing the baby to too much mercury. Artificial sweeteners cross the placenta, and their safety has yet to be determined – so no diet foods. No bleu cheese, because the bacteria that ferments the cheese may be harmful to baby.

Now pregnant women have one more thing to keep in mind to keep baby safe. According to the American Academy of Periodontology, pregnant women who have periodontal disease may be seven times more likely to have a baby that is born too early and too small.

More research is needed to confirm how periodontal disease may affect pregnancy outcomes. It appears that periodontal disease triggers increased levels of biological fluids that induce labor. Data also suggest that women whose periodontal condition worsens during pregnancy have an even higher risk of having a premature baby.

But the connection between periodontal health and a healthy pregnancy doesn’t end there. Pregnant women with gum disease and high levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) – a marker of inflammation in the body – are at increased risk of developing preeclampsia, a potentially serious complication involving high blood pressure that often leads to premature delivery.

Additional Health Concerns

As if those conditions weren’t bad enough, further investigation has linked gum disease in pregnant women with gestational diabetes.  Because of these concerns, women are advised to see a dentist before becoming pregnant and to see one at least one time during pregnancy.

According to a study published in the Journal of Dental Research, researchers believe that inflammation associated with periodontal disease has a pivotal role in the onset of gestational diabetes, possibly by interfering with the normal functioning of insulin, the hormone that regulates glucose metabolism.

Along with regular visits to the dentist, pregnant women should consider adding probiotic mints to their oral care regimen. The probiotics in these mints coat the surfaces of the teeth and around the gum line, crowding out the harmful bacteria in the mouth associated with periodontal disease.