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Dental caries and periodontitis: contrasting two infections that have medical implications.

Loesche W

Department of Biological and Materials Science, School of Dentistry, University of Michigan, Room 3209, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.

Both dental decay and periodontal disease are diagnosable and treatable bacterial infections. They are distinctly different infections, with dental decay occurring on the supragingival surfaces of the teeth and periodontal infections occurring in the gingival tissue approximating the subgingival plaque. The bacteria involved and the pathophysiology of these infections are distinctly different.

Published 11 June 2007 in Infect Dis Clin North Am, 21(2): 471-502.
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