Periodontal treatment improve the systemic CRP and proinflammatory cytokine levels

Objectives: Growing evidence of animal and population-based studies has demonstrated an association between periodontal disease and cardiovascular disease. We have previously reported that periodontal treatment had slight, but not significant effect to reduce serum levels of systemic inflammatory markers such as high-sensitivity C-reactive protein(hs-CRP), interleukin-6(IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α) in 21 Japanese patients with periodontitis (Yamazaki et al., 2005). To date, there are only a few small scale prospective intervention studies in Japanese. The aim of this study is to examine whether periodontal treatment has influence on serological markers of systemic inflammation in Japanese population. Methods: Sera were obtained from 50 Japanese patients with periodontitis at the baseline examination and at reassessment after completion of periodontal treatment. hs-CRP was measured using nephelometry with a latex particle-enhanced immunoassay and IL-6 and TNF-α were determined by sensitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results: Periodontal examination demonstrated that probing pocket depth and clinical attachment level were significantly improved following treatment. After periodontal treatment, significant decrease in the levels of hs-CRP and IL-6 was observed (median of hsCRP; 352ng/ml to 346ng/ml, p<0.01, median of IL-6; 0.673pg/ml to 0.579pg/ml, p<0.05). The levels of TNF-α, however, did not show significant difference between baseline and reassessment. Conclusion: These data suggest that infection derived periodontal inflammation could be a risk factor for atherosclerosis, and periodontal treatment may improve the levels of systemic inflammatory markers. This work was supported by Grant-in Aids for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan (16390613, 16592066).