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Volume 26 , Issue 2
March/April 2006

Editorial: Annual Award for Clinical Research in Periodontology

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The 2005 Annual Award for Clinical Research in Periodontology was presented to Dr Francesco D’Aiuto, Mr Mohammed Parkar, Dr George Andreou, Ms Jean Suvan, Dr Peter Brett, Dr Derren Ready, and Professor Maurizio Tonetti at the 91st Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Periodontology (AAP), which was held from September 24 to 27, 2005, in Denver, Colorado. Their report, “Periodontitis and systemic inflammation: Control of the local infection is associated with a reduction in serum inflammatory markers,” was published in the February 2004 issue of the Journal of Dental Research. Each year, a single cash award is provided for an outstanding paper that has direct clinical relevance and application and is published in a refereed journal. The entries are judged by the Research Committee of the AAP. The award is supported by Quintessence Publishing Company, Inc, publisher of The International Journal of Periodontics & Restorative Dentistry.

The aim of this year’s winning study was to assess whether the degree of response to periodontal therapy was associated with changes in serological markers of systemic inflammation. Ninety-four systemically healthy subjects with severe generalized periodontitis participated in a prospective 6-month blind intervention trial. Periodontal parameters and inflammatory markers (C-reactive protein [CRP] and interleukin-6 [IL-6]) were evaluated prior to and 2 and 6 months after delivery of standard nonsurgical periodontal therapy. Six months after treatment, significant reductions in serum IL-6 (P < 0.001; median decrease, 0.2 ng/L; 95% CI, 0.1–0.4 ng/L) and CRP (P < 0.0001; median decrease, 0.5 mg/L; 95% CI, 0.4–0.7 mg/L) were observed. Decreases in inflammatory markers were significant in subjects with above- average clinical response to periodontal therapy after correction for possible confounders. This study showed that periodontitis may add to the systemic inflammatory burden of affected individuals.

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