Close attention should be given to periodontitis patients who harbor H. pylori in the oral cavity.

No abstract

This communication reports 5 cases of cervical and 1 apical cemental tears. The diagnosis of the cervical tears was made by a characteristic feature which presented radiographically as a prickle-like body. The fragment of cementum could be detached by root planing or during periodontal surgery and uneventful healing was obtained following these procedures. The process of aging in addition to continuous occlusal strain may lead to this phenomenon. Cervical cemental tear may be one of the contributing factors in the progress of adult periodontitis.

Hypoxia and reoxygenation may stimulate the PDL to produce VEGF, IL-6 and -1beta, and PGE2, which could result in the resorption of alveolar bone in periodontitis.

Soluble CD14 (sCD14) mediates the response to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in cells lacking membrane-bound CD14. We determined sCD14 concentrations in the sera of 38 periodontitis patients and 25 healthy controls by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The sCD14 levels in the sera of patients with periodontitis were significantly higher than those of healthy subjects and decreased after treatment. Enhanced levels of sCD14 in serum may contribute to the host response to LPS in periodontitis. Furthermore, we showed in vitro that addition of LPS enhanced the release of sCD14 by monoblastic U937 cells treated with 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3. Thus, increased sCD14 levels in periodontitis patients may be due to chronic exposure to LPS.