Reports of dental research appearing on this page represent a small snapshot of the 66 studies from the School of Dental Medicine that were presented last week at the combined meeting of the American Association of Dental Research and the International Association of Dental Research, held this year in Vancouver.

"This school is always a major presence at the premiere dental-research meeting, in terms of faculty as well as students - dental, postgraduate and Ph.D.," said Louis J. Goldberg, dean of the dental school, who attended the meeting along with several faculty and student presenters. Robert J. Genco, SUNY Distinguished Professor and chair of the Department of Oral Biology, and Sara G. Grossi, senior research scientist in that department, chaired symposia on the role of periodontal disease and systemic disease, an area in which UB plays a leading role.

Research areas ranged from basic research into cellular mechanisms of pathogens, carcinogenesis and the role of HIV in periodontal disease, to bone-regeneration research, product studies and population-based epidemiological analyses.

Gum disease and heart attack
UB researchers identify specific oral bacteria likely to damage heart

By LOIS BAKER
News Services Editor

Oral biologists from the School of Dental Medicine, among the first researchers to report a relationship between gum disease and risk of heart attack, now have identified the specific types of bacteria that are most damaging to the cardiovascular system.

If the findings are confirmed, it may be possible to target the bacteria with antibiotics or vaccines and lower the risk of heart attack in persons with periodontal disease, according to Robert J. Genco, chief investigator on this and earlier studies on the connection between oral bacteria and heart disease.

The findings are consistent with the hypothesis that specific periodontal pathogens are implicated in the development of cardiovascular disease, added Genco, SUNY Distinguished Professor and chair of the Department of Oral Biology.

Oral bacteria enter the bloodstream via small ulcers that develop in the gum tissue of persons with periodontal disease. They are thought to increase the risk of heart attack by: 1) contributing to plaque formation, which narrows blood vessels and increases the chance of clots forming, 2) accumulating around damaged tissue, such as a lesion in the blood vessel or a replaced heart valve, which also can narrow blood vessels and cause clots, and 3) inducing platelets to aggregate, which increases the chances of clots forming.

"We've known for some time that oral bacteria can precipitate these kinds of reactions," Genco said. "We now know that these reactions help explain how bacteria that cause gum disease can also increase the risk for heart disease."

Trying to identify the specific oral bacteria that are most responsible for contributing to heart problems, he headed a case-control study of 97 heart-attack patients and 233 controls who were tested for the presence of eight types of oral bacteria.

Results showed that the heart-attack patients were heavily infected with all bacteria types, but that the risk of heart attack was related significantly only to three types: B. forsythus, P. gingivalis and C. recta., organsims thought to cause periodontal disease in adults.

Depending on the bacterial concentration, the increased risk of heart attack in persons with one or another of these bacteria ranged from 200-300 percent, compared to people with no evidence of the bacteria, Genco said.

For more detail, go to http://www.buffalo.edu/news/Latest/GencoBactCVD.html.

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