Periodontitis occurs when inflammation or infection of the gums (gingivitis) is untreated or treatment is delayed. Infection and inflammation spreads from the gums to the ligaments and bone that support the teeth and this damage leads to tooth loss.
In a keynote address to the International Association for Dental Research meeting in Hawaii this weekend, Iain Chapple from the University of Birmingham in the UK noted that excess reactive oxygen species are strongly implicated in inflammatory periodontitis.
Antioxidants such as uric acid and reduced glutathione are believed to be the most effective in protecting cell components from structural damage during hyper-inflammation, he added. Dietary glutathione is found in fruits and vegetables, such as asparagus, avocado, and walnuts, as well as fish and meat.
But because antioxidants work together, the study of individual species in relation to inflammatory diseases can provide a misleading picture of their role in diseases like periodontitis.
Chapple and colleagues have developed an assay for total antioxidant capacity, with sufficient sensitivity to permit analysis of gingival fluid as well as blood plasma, they said. The regression model allows them to predict total antioxidant capacity from individual antioxidant components in the blood, which in turn helps them investigate data from large population studies.
Also at the conference, researchers presented data to support the potential application of cranberries in oral health.
Studies on the fruit have recently shown it to have a new type of anti-infectious activity that prevents urinary tract infection by inhibiting bacterial attachment to uroepithelial cells.
A team from the University of California Los Angeles and Oceanspray Cranberry demonstrated that a cranberry extract also prevented adhesion of the bacteria Streptococcus mutans, an agent for dental caries, to teeth. Conventional preventive and therapeutic methods for microbial infections are not effective because of side-effects, drug resistance and ecological concerns.
Further research from the University of Illinois at Chicago also suggested that cranberry juice may benefit oral health by interfering with viability, growth, and biofilm formation of oral pathogens. Four commercial cranberry juice cocktails were tested on oral pathogens in the lab and shown to have strong antibacterial and anti-adhesive activity.