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Aino Salminen (PhD, DDS, MSc Tech) works currently as a post-doctoral researcher at the Eastman Dental Institute, University College London, and as a university lecturer at the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Diseases, University of Helsinki. Her research focuses on the systemic effects of periodontal treatment, the links between oral infections and cardiometabolic disorders, periodontal genetics, and analysis of large-scale metabolomics, proteomics, and metagenomics data.
The research presented at the Scandinavian Society of Periodontology Congress was conducted at the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Diseases, University of Helsinki. The interdisciplinary working group responsible for the study includes periodontists, cardiologists, and biochemists from the University of Helsinki, Helsinki University Hospital, and Karolinska Institutet. The Parogene study included 508 subjects (mean age 62.9±9 years) who were assigned to coronary angiography for any reason at the Helsinki University Hospital. The general aim of the study was to examine the association and shared risk factors between coronary artery disease and oral health concentrating mainly on periodontitis. The subjects had an extensive clinical and radiographic oral examination and they represented all stages of periodontal conditions from periodontally healthy to severe periodontitis patients. Saliva and serum samples were collected, and information on diseases and medications was obtained from national health registries. Saliva IL-1β, LPS, MPO, S100A8 and S100A12 concentrations were analyzed by ELISA, LAL assay and Luminex assay. The purchase of antibiotics for 6 months prior to the oral examination was assessed from national drug imbursement records and from a questionnaire. The association between antibiotic use, the concentrations of inflammatory biomarkers, and periodontal parameters was analyzed by linear and logistic regression adjusted for age, gender, number of teeth, smoking, and diabetes.
Thirty-eight percent of the subjects had purchased antibiotics during six months preceding the oral examination. Most commonly purchased antibiotic classes were cephalosphorins (33% of all purchases) and penicillins (23% of all purchases). The use of antibiotics was inversely associated with BOP (OR 0.57, p = 0.01), suppuration (OR 0.21, p = 0.003), pockets with PPD ≥ 6 mm (OR 0.50, p = 0.02), and alveolar bone loss (OR 0.92, p = 0.03). Of the salivary biomarkers, the use of antibiotics was inversely associated with IL-1β (OR 0.62, p = 0.02) and MPO (OR 0.67, p = 0.04).
From this study, Salminen and her collegues concluded that the use of antibiotics for any reason, not only for oral indications, has an impact on periodontal parameters and salivary biomarkers for at least 6 months.