Measuring levels of key proteins in patients’ saliva may be a relatively easy way for dentists and even patients themselves to track the progression of gum disease, suggests a new US study.
In the research led by a team at Penn Dental Medicine in Pennsylvania—and published in the Journal of Clinical Periodontology—saliva samples from more than 400 patients were monitored and tested for up to a year and a half. They found that on average, patients who experienced progression of periodontitis showed substantially more elevated levels of nine inflammation-related signalling proteins in saliva when compared to those that did not.
“One can imagine a saliva test kit, based on such findings, that dentists could use and even periodontitis patients could use at home—it could be a very useful personalised-dentistry tool for assessing risk and tailoring care delivery,” study lead author A/Prof Flavia Teles said.
The researchers enrolled 302 individuals who had signs of early to moderate/severe periodontitis, and 113 individuals without periodontitis signs.
Each subject received a detailed check-up with standard assessments of periodontitis status and progression every two months for a year. Subjects also had saliva and blood samples taken at each check-up; the saliva samples were tested for levels of 10 different inflammation-linked proteins, and the blood samples for five different inflammatory proteins.
When the year was up, researchers gave the periodontitis subjects standard non-surgical periodontal therapy and checked them again three and six months later.
The results showed that periodontitis patients who had the most disease progression during the year—defined as three or more sites with loss of clinical attachment—had significantly higher levels of several inflammation-related signalling proteins in their saliva samples. Following treatment, these levels subsided.
The levels of such proteins in subjects’ blood did not differ significantly by degree of disease progression, although several did fall significantly following treatment.
The findings suggest that changes in levels of inflammation-related proteins in saliva over time can help patients and doctors assess the risk of periodontitis progression as well as the effectiveness of treatment—and that blood levels also may be helpful in the latter case.
