Periodontal Medicine and Systems Biology

This book provides a systems-based approach to periodontology andoffers a scientific roadmap of the interactions which can lead toperiodontal disease.

The content is divided into five sections. The first introducesthe reader to the concept of systems theory and its mathematicalfoundation. The second section provides the reader with a currentview of periodontal medicine including the microbiology, moleculargenetics, relationship to systemic disease and current and futuretherapies. Periodontitis is caused by members of the oralmicrobiota and the third section provides the reader with variousviews of the relationship of the microbiota to the host. The fourthsection moves from the bacterium to the host and its immuneresponses to altered host: bacteria interactions. The final sectiondeals specifically with bone destruction in periodontitis andbrings the reader up-to-date with the current view of the controlnetwork that exists between mesenchymal cells such as osteoblasts,immune cells and osteoclast precursor cells that controls boneremodelling in health and disease.