Teughels Wim, University of Leuven, Belgium

Periodontitis and periimplantitis: exploring the concept of guided pocket recolonization

Prof. Dr. Wim Teughels
Catholic University Leuven, Department of Periodontology, Research Group for Microbial Adhesion, Kapucijnenvoer 7, 3000 Leuven, Belgium, e-mail wim.teughels@med.kuleuven.be

Plaque related periodontal diseases are thought to develop when the host immune system is overruled by specific periodontopathogens. Therefore, historically, research has focused on the latter two entities. However, roughly estimated, there are only 10 bacterial species more or less associated with periodontitis from the more than 700 species that can be found in the oral cavity. The main role of these other species on periodontal health is largely unknown. It has been suggested that several of these species can be considered beneficial for periodontal health. In a series of in vitro studies, 7 bacterial species that were presumed to be beneficial for the periodontal health were tested on their ability to interfere with the epithelial and hard tissue surface colonization of periodontopathogens. The 3 most potent bacterial species were subsequently tested on their in vivo properties to inhibit periodontopathogen recolonization after scaling and root planing in an in vivo Beagle dog model. Next to changing the periodontopathogen recolonization process, the application of these beneficial species resulted in a decreased inflammatory status of the treated periodontal pockets. This observation raised the question whether these species, next to interfering with the colonization process, could also interfere with the epithelial immunological response to a bacterial challenge by periodontopathogens. A series of currently ongoing in vitro studies show that some of these beneficial species can indeed interfere with the IL-8 response to periodontopathogens. Finally, the presentation will shift its focus from the more classical beneficial bacteria over to bacterial predators which appear to show desirable properties to become used as therapeutic agents.