title: Probiotics and periodontal health.
abstract: Periodontitis is one of the most common chronic inflammatory diseases. The etiology is clearly bacterial and a number of putative bacterial pathogens have been associated with the disease, including Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, Tannerella forsythus and Porphyromonas gingivalis. Comparatively, little attention has been paid to the identification of health-associated and potentially beneficial bacterial species that may reside in the gingival sulcus. Probiotic technology represents a breakthrough approach to maintaining oral health by using natural beneficial bacteria, commonly found in healthy mouths, to provide a natural defense against those bacteria which are thought to be harmful to teeth and gums. This article endeavors to introduce the concepts of probiotics in periodontics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Periodontics, Institute of Dental Studies and Technologies, Modinagar, UP India. drgeeti_gupta@yahoo.com
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gupta
mesh_terms: D016976:Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans / Q000472:pathogenicity; D006801:Humans; D010517:Periodontics / Q000379:methods; D010518:Periodontitis / Q000178:diet therapy* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D016966:Porphyromonas gingivalis / Q000472:pathogenicity; D019936:Probiotics / Q000627:therapeutic use*