Epigenetics and periodontitis: A source of connection to systemic diseases

Abstract

Over the past 15 years, there has been intense research interest in periodontitis and its associations with several systemic conditions and how periodontitis can modify the expression of those diseases. The area that looks forward in those relationships is called periodontal medicine. Offenbacher described periodontal medicine as a discipline that focuses on the investigation of associations between periodontal diseases and systemic diseases and their biological plausibility in human populations and in animal models. It has been reported that periodontal disease may independently increase the risk of diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, preterm or low-weight delivery, or rheumatoid arthritis. On the other hand, periodontitis is a chronic infection, which pathogenesis is orchestrated by multiple factors. Within those factors, genetics and epigenetics may have an important role in the pathogenesis. Epigenetics is a new area in research that is defined as genetic control by factors other than an individual's DNA sequence via silencing certain genes while promoting others. These processes involve regulating transcription factor and access to chromatin, as well as microRNA (miRNA) and long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) regulating the expression of mRNA. In this chapter, we are going to deal with periodontitis pathogenesis, the role of epigenetics in its process, and the new connections of periodontitis and some systemic conditions by the expression of some epigenetic factors. This basic knowledge drives to know how to understand the possible connections and some targets to cope with in the future.