title: The presence of Helicobacter pylori in dental plaque of children and their parents: is it related to their periodontal status and oral hygiene?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the possible presence of  H. pylori in subgingival dental plaque of children with upper  gastrointestinal symptoms, as well as of their parents' and to detect any association between the presence of H. pylori and  oral hygiene together with  the periodontal status of children and their  parents.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study  comprised of 35 children with upper gastrointestinal symptoms, aged 4 to 14 years and 45 family members (mothers and/or  fathers). Gastric biopsies were collected from all children for CLO-test, histology and culture. Serology was used to assess  the H. pylori infection status of their parents. Before endoscopy, subgingival dental plaque from children and their parents  were collected from 4 healthy and 4 diseased sites, and the clinical indices (gingival index, plaque index, bleeding on  probing, pocket depth, loss of clinical attachment) after plaque collection were recorded.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Chi-square test was  performed to investigate possible differences between children and their parents and logistic regression analysis was used  to evaluate the association of parental infection status with that of children.
  
  
  RESULTS
  15 out of 35 children (42.86%)  were found H. pylori-positive. In 6 out of the 15 infected children (40%) H. pylori was also identified in their  subgingival plaque samples, as well as in one among the 20 non infected children. The presence of H. pylori in dental  plaque was significantly associated with its presence in the gastric antrum (p=0.0274). H. pylori was identified in the dental  plaque of 7 mothers corresponding to children with positive PCR in their dental plaque and of 4 fathers (one corresponding  with his child found H. pylori positive in dental plaque). Children who had H. pylori identified in their dental plaque  belonged to families with members also having H. pylori in dental plaque. No significant relationship between periodontal  clinical parameters and detection of H. pylori in dental plaque in both children and their parents was found.  However, the  presence of H. pylori in the subgingival plaque samples was significantly correlated with the parental diseased sites  (p=0.02).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  H. pylori was detected in subgingival dental plaque of children and their families, possibly acting  as a "reservoir" contributing to the intra-familial spread. Efficient oral hygiene and healthy periodontal status could reduce  this transmission.
authors.affiliation: Department of Periodontology, Athens University, Athens, Greece. atsami@dent.uoa.gr
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tsami
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Petropoulou
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kafritsa
authors.forename: Y A
authors.initials: YA
authors.lastname: Mentis
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Roma-Giannikou
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003773:Dental Plaque / Q000382:microbiology*; D003774:Dental Plaque Index; D005260:Female; D005750:Gastric Juice / Q000382:microbiology*; D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases / Q000382:microbiology; D006115:Greece; D016480:Helicobacter pylori / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D018445:Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D058889:Molecular Typing; D009910:Oral Hygiene; D010290:Parents; D017622:Periodontal Attachment Loss / Q000382:microbiology*; D010512:Periodontal Index; D012703:Serotyping