Muhammad Amjad, Azad Ali Azad, Mateen Izhar, Riaz Ahmed.
Helicobacter Pylori in the Plaque Collected from the Complete Dentures of Dyspeptic Patients.
J Pak Dent Assoc Jan ;22(3):189-92.

OBJECTIVE: Objective of the present study was to find the presence of H. pylori bacteria in the plaque samples of complete dentures in patients with dyspepsia. Settings: A descriptive diagnostic study was carried out in the Department of Prosthodontics, (name of study setting removed by the editor) from January 2007 to December 2009. METHODOLOGY: A total of 67 complete denture patients with clinical symptoms of dyspepsia with their ages ranging from 50 to 65 years were included in the study. Specimens of denture plaque and gastric biopsy were collected from all the patients. The denture plaque specimen was processed by Rapid Urease Test (RUT) and gastric biopsy samples were processed for RUT and also for the histopathology. RESULT: The males and female distribution of the 67 patients was 46 (68.65%) and 21 (31.34%) respectively with their mean age as 57.5 (SD= 10.6 years). Using the rapid urease test (RUT), some 59 (88.05%) patients showed presence of H. pylori in denture plaque specimens as compared to 46 (68.65%) who were positive for H. pylori from the gastric biopsy samples. The histopathologically studied specimens of gastric biopsy showed H. pylori in 55 (82.1%) patients while 12 (17.9%) patients showed chronic active gastritis which was not associated with H. pylori. CONCLUSION: Denture plaque and oral cavity may serve as a temporary source for H. pylori in patients with gastritis. Antibiotic treatment of H. pylori along with meticulous denture hygiene measures may possibly prevent potential hazards. However, the beneficial effect of this needs to be confirmed.

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