Do any of your teeth bleed when you brush them? Are parts of the gums tender, red or inflamed? These are among the symptoms of periodontal or gum disease, which attacks the bone and gums that support our teeth. The disease is among the most prevalent among humans; up to 70 per cent of adults in North America suffer from some form of the disease during their lifetime.
A new non-invasive, rapid oral rinse developed by Professor Michael Glogauer at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Dentistry promises to get to the root causes of this common disease. The rinse, which was administered to patients during their initial oral assessment and again after the first phase of gum treatment, allows periodontists to count the number of oral neutrophils present in the mouth. Oral neutrophils are infection-fighting white blood cells that are normally present in mouth tissues. When present in high numbers, neutrophils cause secondary damage to bone and gum tissues as they attack bacteria in the mouth. When the bone is lost, the teeth lose their support and become loose, making chewing difficult.
Using the rinse, Glogauer detected significant differences in pretreatment oral neutrophil counts between patients with periodontal disease and those in healthy control groups. “Neutrophil levels decreased after affected patients were successfully treated,” he says. “Patients who responded well to the normal treatment had a 43-per-cent reduction between their pre- and post-treatment neutrophil levels, while those who responded poorly had no significant changes.”
“Although genetics and other factors contribute to periodontal disease, being able to accurately count neutrophil levels will yield important information if we’re going to understand their role in this disease,” Glogauer says. “This non-invasive, painless oral rinse is an excellent research tool, and we hope that dentists will one day use it to quickly identify patients at risk for bone and gum destruction.”