The relationship between gastric-oral Helicobacter pylori and oral hygienein patients with vitamin B-12-deficiency anemia

Objective. The aim of this study was to determine whether a relationship ex ists between gastric and oral Helicobacter pylori and oral hygiene in patie nts with vitamin B-12 deficiency. Study design. One hundred eight patients with vitamin B-12 deficiency who w ere H pylori-positive in their gastric mucosa were enrolled in the study. T hese patients were divided into 3 groups determined by Oral Hygiene Index ( OHI) scores of good, fair, or poor. H pylori was detected in the dental pla que with camphylobacter-like organism test gels. All patients were treated with a combination regimen to eradicate H pylori. Results. H pylori positivity in dental plaque was correlated with OHI score s; the positivity was 28.5%, 90.2%, or 100% in patients with good, fair, or poor OHI scores, respectively. The eradication of H pylori was associated with recovery from anemia and increased serum vitamin B-12 level (P < .0001 and P < .0001). The patients with poor OHI scores had the most frequent ga stric recurrence of H pylori (58.3%) compared with those with fair OHI scor es (41.2%) and good OHI scores (4.8%). Conclusions. H pylori seems to be an etiologic factor in vitamin B-12 defic iency, since anemia was cured and the level of vitamin B-12 in the serum in creased as a result of its eradication. However, eradication of H pylori fr om gastric mucosa alone is not enough to prevent gastric recurrence of the bacteria. Proper oral hygiene must be established to eliminate H pylori in dental plaque. Therefore, we suggest that control of H pylori in dental pla que is necessary to control recurrence of H pylori.