2001 Volume 35 Issue 2 Pages 105-110
Periodontitis is characterized by resorption of the alveolar bone, as well as the loss of soft tissue attachment to the tooth, which ultimately leads to tooth loss. Parathyroid hormone(PTH)plays a critical regulatory role in calcium metabolism and stimulates bone resorption indirectly. To establish whether a PTH gene polymorphism is associated with adult periodontitis, we conducted a case-control study of 150 Japanese subjects, aged 35-57 years. The subjects included 60 adult periodontitis patients and 90 control subjects. We analyzed a polymorphism that corresponds to a silent C→A transition located in exon 3 of the PTH gene. No significant differences were observed in the PTH genotype distribution in adult periodontitis patients versus control subjects. Nevertheless, a sensitivity analysis, based on the subjects having both a positive family history of adult periodontitis and being a non-smoker, suggests that significant associations exist in the frequency of PTH genotypes between adult periodontitis patients and control subjects(p=0.049). These findings suggest that a PTH gene polymorphism is associated with a susceptibility to adult periodontitis in individuals with predisposition to the disease.