Chronic Periodontitis in Pregnant Women with Previous Abortions : The Role of Anticardiolipin and Antiphospholipid Antibodies

Chronic periodontitis is the most common form of periodontitis. The initiation of periodontitis in an individual is thought to be due to a gene polymorphism, which causes a change in the behavior of cytokines, substances that regulate the movement of immune system defending cells. There is some recent evidence to indicate that patients with periodontitis may be subjected to an increase of cardiovascular diseases and a greater chance of bearing pre-term low-birth weight babies. It is hypothesized that the biological explanation for the association of periodontitis with adverse pregnancy outcomes can be chronic exposure to the oral bacterial pathogens; particularly gram negative bacteria, which stimulate systemic production of inflammatory mediators and antibodies that deleteriously affect the placenta. Accordingly, the association between periodontitis and increased serum levels of ACLA and APLA has been taken into account. This book describes the detection of ACLA and APLA in pregnant women and correlates their presence with oral health status specially periodontitis.