Periodontitis: Current Status and the Future

Periodontitis is a common inflammatory disease, in which the composition of the oral biofilm and the individual immune response have significant impacts. Severe periodontitis is one of the most prevalent conditions in the world, leading to periodontitis being a public health concern.

It is widely accepted that periodontitis may be a modifiable risk factor/modulator for several systemic diseases, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, adverse pregnancy outcomes, rheumatoid arthritis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and chronic kidney disease. It seems to have an influence not only on the manifestation and progression but also on the prognosis of several systemic diseases. The biological plausibility linking periodontitis and various systemic diseases could, among other things, be due to bacteremia and their associated systemic inflammatory consequences. This raises the question of whether individualized periodontal therapy could possibly reduce the risk of the development of systemic diseases or positively influence their outcome.