Current Knowledge about Periodontal Disease and Systemic Health

Posted: December 21st, 2022

Current Knowledge about Periodontal Disease and Systemic Health

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Current Knowledge about Periodontal Disease and Systemic Health

                 Periodontitis can no longer be viewed as a mere bacterial infection that results in periodontal deterioration. Instead, it is intricately connected to other ailments involving interactive engagements between the immune system, modifying factors in the environment, host inflammatory respone and microbiota (Bartold and Dyke 317). It is also believed that the bacterium causing periodontitis is overly commensal in nature, and its association with the host is often in a condition of homeostasis (Bartold and Dyke 317). Nevertheless, alterations in the microbiota can occur as a result of overgrowth of organisms, often presented in low measures, forming what has been referred to as dysbiosis of the microbiota resulting in periodontal disease (Bartold and Dyke 317). Nonetheless, Bartold and Dyke inform that a microbial change encouraging pathogenic species, appropriate environmental conditions and a vulnerable host are necessary for the disease to show clinically (317). Nazir stresses the influence of environmental factors in promoting the development of the disease (75). Evidence suggests that the condition is associated with other diseases such as cardiovascular disease, uncontrolled type 2 diabetes, preterm birth, and respiratory infection, which calls for more attention in the manner of approaching and handling the ailment to minimize or eliminate severe effects (Ahmad et al. 7). Hence, this proposal provides information to guide a major research project to inquire about various issues relating to periodontal disease. Specifically, the study will explore the prevalence of the condition and how it affects the body in various ways. The study will also examine how the disease relates to other conditions. However, effective analysis of the topic requires an effective research method, which in this case will be a systematic literature review of relevant sources. The study will follow an appropriate timeline to achieve the targeted aspirations.

Project Objectives

The study seeks to achieve various objectives to provide more information regarding periodontal disease and how it impacts other aspects of health. One of the objectives is to determine the prevalence of periodontal disease while paying attention to the people it affects most. The other objective for this research is to explain and understand the inflammatory events prompted by periodontal disease while paying close attention to the cause and effect and how they are related to each other. The study seeks to explain whether oral inflammation causes a metastatic effect or not. Also, part of the research objectives is to identify the different health conditions associated with periodontitis.

Research Questions

• What is the prevalence of periodontal disease?
• What are the inflammatory events triggered by periodontal disease and what are the effects?
• Does oral disease due to periodontitis have a metastatic effect?
• Is periodontal disease positively associated with other conditions, particularly cardiovascular disease, uncontrolled type 2 diabetes, preterm birth, and respiratory infection?

Project Methods

The approach to achieve the objective is to use an appropriate research method. A systematic literature review recognizes, selects and critically evaluates research papers with the motive of responding to a clearly constructed research question. The proposed research method is appropriate for this project because the process aims to discover information related to the identified research questions and because it uses explicit technique to confidently gain information about the topic under investigation. The review utilizes transparent and rigorous techniques with the goal to summarize available evidence with little bias.

                 Using systematic literature review to explore the topic requires the researcher to focus on key steps. The first step will be to structure the research questions. The research questions in this case should be clear, focused, and should not be too broad and not very narrow. Moreover, the research questions should not be problematic to investigate and should be answerable. The next step will be to search and appraise literature comprised of peer-reviewed articles retrieved from reliable sources. Data extraction will pay attention to relevant information that relates to the research questions and achieve the objectives. It is imperative to mention that the study will use the systematic stratified sampling technique which entails placing literacy works within a stratum based on a random beginning point. The selected systematic sample is expected to give a representation of all articles in the collection that deal with periodontal disease and its effects. A suitable approach to selecting the needed research papers would be to use key words such as periodontal disease, periodontitis, gum disease, gingivitis, periodontitis, aggressive periodontitis, and chronic periodontitis among others.

                 The next phase would be to analyze and synthesize the collected data using the most suitable approach. The most suitable data analysis technique for this study is deemed to be the descriptive data analysis method which aims to describe, illustrate and summarize data in an appropriate manner such that trends in the data can be identified. Descriptive analysis is a form of data analysis that helps to explain, discover and present data in a brief way that is easy to understand with the motive of identifying patterns to gain some knowledge regarding the research questions. The process is essential for performing statistical data analysis.

Project Outcomes

It is expected that the project will provide answers to all the research questions. It is expected that the findings will match that of the CDC, which indicates that the prevalence of periodontitis in the country is about 47.1% of adults of 30 years and above. The findings should also indicate that periodontal disease intensifies with age because an assessment of participants comprised of adults 65 years and above revealed that they have periodontal disease. Moreover, the analysis should indicate that more people from minority groups such as African Americans develop periodontal disease compared to Spanish and non-Spanish Whites (CDC). For example, the study should reveal that affected people from minority groups are likely to report more warning signs of the disease such as bleeding gums, sensitive teeth, bad taste or breath that does not go away, swollen or red gums, and loose teeth among other severe effects (CDC). The discrepancy is often attributed to the challenges minority groups experience in accessing health and dental care as opposed to other groups such as Whites. The findings of the project will be vital for proposing relevant mitigating measures.

                 The study should reveal that periodontal disease triggers inflammatory events that have adverse effects on dental tissue. Hajishengallis and Chavakis (426) inform that periodontitis, being an inflammatory disease that affects the oral mucosa, is related to other serious inflammation-caused complications, encompassing autoimmune and cardio-metabolic illnesses as well as cancer. In addition, the project’s results are expected to confirm that of Hajishengallis and Chavakis: that periodontal disease is a serious inflammatory ailment that progressively interferes with the nature and effectiveness of the tissues supporting the quality and functions of the teeth (426). The results are expected to further demonstrate that the disease has an epidemiological connection with various other chronic conditions such as cancers, Alzheimer disease, inflammatory bowel disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and cardiovascular disease, among others (435). Kononen et al. and Dubey and Mittal support the idea that periodontitis is associated with various comorbidities (182). Moreover, the project’s findings should be similar to Hajishengallis and Chavakis who found that whereas the imbalanced engagement between the inflammatory reaction of the host and the microbiota can significantly describe what results in the destruction of local tissue in periodontitis, it is unclear and uncertain how and whether the imbalanced association can casually relate the disease to other ailments (436). When analyzing the results, it will be imperative to remember that from a therapeutic and medical view, the association between related comorbidities and periodontitis is simply correlative or instigated by unpremeditated automatic engagements (AlJehani 6; Hajishengallis and Chavakis 436). In addition, since the condition is associated with comorbidities such as cancer, the findings should affirm that periodontal disease, and especially oral inflammation has a metastatic effect (Schenkein and Loos 63); Jain et al. also confirm that it has a metastatic effect (6015). More fundamentally, the findings should be consistent and inform on a course of direction for future research that have similar objectives. Above all, clear presentation of the results is imperative so that the audience can comprehend the information.

Timeline with Key Milestones and Deliverables

The research will follow a specific timeline and will seek to achieve specific milestones and deliverables in a timely manner. Timelines are important in completing any project. They are not only useful in organizing the work that should be performed, but they hold every party responsible for completing their task. They entail what the project will achieve and help to develop clear aspirations and urgencies. Moreover, the timeline shows the chronological order of activities that a researcher plans to do in their research. It offers the audience a broadened view of the study at a glance. The table below provides a summary of the timeline with key milestones and deliverables.

Timeline	Milestones and Deliverables
Week 1- week 3	Structure all the research questions in a clear and focused manner, and in a way that is not too broad or difficult to answer. The research questions will also be analytical rather than descriptive and also not be too basic.
Week 3	Meeting with the advisor to share ideas about the most suitable ways for completing the study. The advisor would provide tips on what need to happen as well what needs to be omitted to achieve the best results.
Week 4- week 9	Complete the searching and appraising process of all selected literature. Collection will be performed in a systematic manner such that only relevant studies are selected for the project. The process will rely on key words to facilitate the search process and to ensure that the selected materials address the research questions and study objectives.
Week 10 – week 14	Data extraction will be done efficiently with minimum challenge. The extraction will be in accordance with widely accepted methods of extracting data from a systematic literature review, including relationship to the review questions addressing the review questions, selecting works that contain criteria for inclusion, retrieving data from included studies, and assessing the risk of bias in the selected studies, by critically appraising them.
Week 15 – week 18	Data analysis and synthesis will be done with care and in accordance with the provisions of descriptive data analysis. Specifically, the descriptive approach clarifies the sample, the center of the data, its spread, and compares data from various groups.
Week 19 – week 22	Results will be reported in a way that includes all details emerging from the data analysis and interpretation. When the project achieves a specified goal, it will be reported in the past tense when describing the results, as recommended for most research projects.

Conclusion

This research proposal outlines the approaches that are expected to help understand how periodontal disease impacts the health of affected individuals. The study will examine and report the prevalence of periodontal disease while showing how reported cases differ across age and race. It will also attempt to identify and explain the inflammatory effects caused by periodontal disease as well as attempt to determine whether the condition causes a metastatic effect. The study will also examine whether the disease is associated with other conditions such as cardiovascular disease, uncontrolled type 2 diabetes, preterm birth, and respiratory infection. The most suitable technique to gather data in this case is through systematic literature review, which entails retrieving data from relevant secondary sources. The descriptive data analysis technique will be used to analyze the data and provide an opportunity to identify trends in the presented data. The project expects to produce similar results to other scholarly studies on the topic. Nonetheless, it will be imperative to adhere to a specific timeline that guides the project while focusing on key milestones and deliverables. Adhering to all steps and guidelines provides a more accurate and sound investigation into periodontal disease.

Works Cited

Ahmad, Paras, Anas Arshad, Elena Bella and Zohaib Khurshid. “Systemic Manifestations of the Periodontal Disease: A Bibliometric Review.” Molecules, vol. 25, 2020, 1-17.

AlJehani, Yousef. “Risk Factors of Periodontal Disease: Review of the Literature.” International Journal of Dentistry, vol. 3-4, 2014, pp. 1-9.

Bartold, Mark and Thomas Dyke. “Host modulation: controlling the inflammation to control the infection.” Periodontology, vol. 75, 2017, pp. 317-329.

Dubey, Pragati and Neelam Mittal. “Periodontal Diseases – A Brief Review.” International Journal of Oral Health Dentistry, vol. 6, no. 3, 2020, pp. 177-187.

Hajishengallis, George and Triantafyllos Chavakis. “Local and Systemic Mechanisms Linking Periodontal Disease and Inflammatory Comorbidities.” Reviews, vol. 21, 2021, pp. 426-440.

Jain, Ashish, Eraldo Batista, Charles Serhan, Gregory Stahl and Thomas Dyke. “Role for Periodontitis in the Progression of Lipid Deposition in an Animal Model.” Infection and Immunity, vol. 71, no. 10, 6012-6018.

Kononen, Eija, Mervi Gursoy, and Ulvi Giursoy. “Periodontitis: A Multifaceted Disease of Tooth-Supporting Tissues.” Journal of Clinical Medicine, vol. 8, no. 8, 2019, https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm8081135

Nazir, Muhammad. “Prevalence of Periodontal Disease, its Association with Systemic Diseases and Prevention.” IJHS, vol. 11, no. 2, 2017, pp. 72-80.

“Periodontal Disease.” CDC, 2022, https://www.cdc.gov/oralhealth/conditions/periodontal-disease.html#:~:text=A%20recent%20CDC%20report1,and%20older%20have%20periodontal%20disease. Accessed 6 Mar. 2022.    

Schenkein, Harvey and Bruno Loos. “Inflammatory Mechanisms Linking Periodontal Diseases to Cardiovascular diseases.” Journal of Clinical Periodontology, vol. 40, 2013, pp. 51-69.