gingivitis

Using Artificial Intelligence to Detect Gum Inflammation

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An interesting article titled “Accuracy of Artificial Intelligence-Based Photographic Detection of Gingivitis” appears in the International Dental Journal written by Reinhard Chun Wang Chau and et.al., 2023. The article used artificial intelligence (AI) to provide automated visual plaque control advice based on intraoral photographs. Periodontal disease is a chronic inflammatory disease that is categorised into gingivitis and periodontitis with reversible and irreversible tissue damages. It is beleived to affect mroe than 50% of the world. Periodontal disease is caused by accumulation of plaque biofilm along the gingival margin, which causes local gingival inflammation. As inflammation occurs at the gingival margin, redness, swelling, and loss of stippling appearance as loss of gingival fiber attachment are observed which are changes detected visually by dentists. The study used a deep learning algorithm named DeepLabv3+ built on Keras with TensorFlow to analyze intraoral photographs … Read more

Gingivitis Bacteria Manipulate Your Immune System

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An interesting article appears in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology discussing how the bacteria known for causing gum disease–Porphyromonas gingivalis–can manipulate the immune system to disable normal processes that would otherwise destroy it.The article talks about how this bacteria causes the anti-inflammatory molecule Interleukin-10 (IL-10) which inhibits the function of T-cells which would otherwise help to fight off the bacteria. The researchers discuss how it is important to understand how gingivitis bacteria affect the immune system since more than 50% of adults over 50 in the U.S. develop periodontal disease. The researchers used cells from mice that were exposed to Porphyromonas gingivalis and had some of them treated with an inhibiting antibody against IL-10 and the other portion of cells was not treated. The cells were then tested for interferon gamma production. The researchers found that an increase of interferon … Read more