Genetic Tests May Identify Periodontal Diseases

“It’s a way to customize patient care,” notes William Giannobile, DDS, MS, DMSc, in a U of M news release. Giannobile is director of the Michigan Center for Oral Health Research at the U of M School of Dentistry, and former faculty member of the Forsyth Institute, Boston. Giannobile outlines that the study as an investigation into “a way to use genetic testing to personalize a dental treatment plan and the frequency of dental care visit of patients as it relates to oral care.”

Genetic information gathered from test subjects will be combined with the subjects’ risk factors of smoking and diabetes. Researchers will then compare a patient’s tooth survival rates with his or her dental treatment program over a 15-year period.

The university is conducting the study in a joint effort with the Massachusetts-based manufacturer of the genetic test, which is available throughout the United States. The manufacturer’s chief scientific officer explains that prevention and early disease detection are among the goals of personalized health care.

Early detection of periodontal diseases could have implications for patients who also have undiagnosed diabetes. The connection between the two conditions was underscored earlier this year in Dental Nursing, which referenced a study by Dr. Sheila Strauss, associate professor at New York University’s College of Dentistry and Nursing. The study concluded that 93% of its subjects who had periodontitis also were at high risk for diabetes.