System Shows Promise for Treatment of Periodontitis

System Shows Promise for Treatment of Periodontitis

A new system for classifying periodontal diseases has been devised by researchers at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) in New York. The system, which is designed to help clinicians detect and treat severe periodontitis, differs from previously established classification methods in that it focuses on the genetic signature of affected tissues vs clinical signs and symptoms. 

Study leader Panos N. Papapanou, DDS, PhD, a professor and chair of oral and diagnostic sciences at the College of Dental Medicine at CUMC, cited an overlap in current classifications of the diseases as motivation for the study. “Many patients with severe symptoms can be effectively treated, while others with seemingly less severe infection may continue to lose support around their teeth, even after therapy,” he notes. “Basically, we don’t know whether a periodontal infection is truly aggressive until severe, irreversible damage has occurred.”

Seeking an improved method to classify the disease, researchers looked to other medical advances, including genetic signature. They performed genome-wide expressive analysis of 241 samples of diseased gingival tissue with chronic or severe periodontal diseases collected from 120 subjects age 11 to 76. Analysis divided the participants into two distinct groups not consistent with traditional classification systems. This led Papapanou and his team to conclude that a new method of classifying the disease may make early detection and personalized treatment possible.

“Our data suggest that molecular profiling of gingival tissues can, indeed, form the basis for the development of an alternative, pathobiology-based classification of periodontitis that correlates well with the clinical presentation of the disease,” Papapanou asserts. The team is now planning to conduct a prospective study to validate the system’s ability to predict disease outcomes. The study, “Gingival Tissue Transcriptomes Identify Distinct Periodontitis Phenotypes,” was published in the May issue of the Journal of Dental Research.

Hygiene Connection E-Newsletter

May 2014