Researchers investigate the triggers of peri-implantitis

What are the microbial triggers of peri-implantitis? George Belibasakis and Daniel Manoil from Karolinska Institutet tackled the question in a recent review.

Dentmed researchers George Belibasakis and Daniel Manoil published a cutting-edge review on peri-implantitis, in the centennial volume of the Journal of Dental Research. Their work explains the latest concepts on the microbiology of the disease, by putting together findings from the latest sequencing technologies.

Belibasakis and Manoil identified that the major microbial changes occur in peri-implant mucositis, the earlier form of peri-implant disease. Additional changes occur during the progression to peri-implantitis, but these are more subtle than the previous stage. The transition from health to peri-implantitis is characterized throughout by gradual reduction of health-associated microorganisms and enrichment of pathogens. It is also clearer now that the microbial communities responsible for peri-implantitis are less diverse from those responsible for periodontitis. This needs to be taken into account for treating the disease differently in future.