Inflammatory mediators in saliva of patients with rapidly progressive periodontitis during war stress induced incidence increase

Rapidly progressive periodontitis (RPP) results from the interaction, betwe en, the periodontal microflora and the host. Stress is believed to play an important role in determining host responses, and it has been proposed that hyperactivity of host defense mechanisms significantly increases tissue de struction typical for this disease. During a period of four months we have diagnosed 20 patients with acute RPP, all of them active participants in ba ttles of the Croatian, liberation war with posttraumatic stress disorder (P TSD) related symptoms. In these patients toe analyzed biochemical parameter s in unstimulated saliva and performed microbiological analyses of periodon tal pockets. These findings were compared with those of patients with adult periodontitis (AP), edentulous and healthy persons, none of whom participa ted in the war. Persons with AP had reduced concentrations of host humoral defense factors in saliva (C-reactive protein, C3 component of complement, and aplha alpha 2-macroglobulin), while patients with RPP had increased con centration of interleukin-6 (IL-6). IL-6 is released by host inflammatory c ells and is a mediator of bone resorption. Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomm itans and Peptostreptococcus were more frequently isolated from patients wi th RPP, me interpret these results as indicators of the importance of stres s in the causation of RPP, with host inflammatory hyperactivity playing an important role in tissue destruction, specially alveolar bone resorption po ssibly caused by increased local levels of IL-6.