Investigating the Effect of Periodontal Treatment on Recurrence of Dyspepsia Caused by Helicobacter Pylori

Helicobacter Pylori has a major documented role in gastric and duodenal ulcer. It is assumed that dental plaque might be a reservoir for Helicobacter pylori. Thus, the purpose of this study was to find a possible relationship between presence of H. Pylori in dental plaque, gastritis and periodontitis.

Sixty patients with symptoms of gastritis and periodontitis participated in our study in whom the presence of Helicobacter Pylori was confirmed in both stool test and dental plaque. They were randomly divided into two groups of case and control. Patients in both groups were treated for Helicobacter infection. Patients in case group were also simultaneously treated for periodontitis. After bacterial eradication was confirmed, within six months, patients were asked for recurrent symptoms of dyspepsia every two months. Fisher’s exact test was used to analyze data considering a significance level of 0.05.

One patient (3.4%) in control group was reported to reveal signs of recurrence in 2-month follow up period. No sign of recurrence was reported in case group. Three patients (10.3%) in control group and two patients (6.7%) in case group were reported to have signs of recurrence in 4-month follow up period. After six months, signs of recurrence was reported by eleven patients (37.9%) in control and five (16.7%) in case group. The difference was not statistically significant in any of the study periods.

The study findings revealed that Periodontal treatment has no effect on recurrence of dyspeptic symptoms caused by Helicobacter.