ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Presence of helicobacter pylori (H.Pylori) in the dental plaques may be associated with the presence of the same organism in gastric mucosa. OBJECTIVES: To assess and compare the prevalence of H. pylori in dental plaques and gastric mucosa of dyspeptic Nigerians. METHODS: Sixty-six consecutive patients undergoing endoscopy for investigation of dyspepsia were included in the study. A predesigned questionnaire was used to collect information on socio-demographic and other factors. Each patient also had clinical dental examination. Dental plaque scrapping was collected before endoscopy for helicobacter pylori culture, and at endoscopy, two gastric biopsy specimens were taken for culture and histology. RESULTS: The mean age (+/- SD) of the patients was 44.8 (+/- 17.4) years (range 5 to 80 years). The positivity rate of helicobacter pylori in gastric biopsy was 35 of 66 (53.0%) while the same for dental plaque was 46 of 66 (69.7%). The correlation (Spearman's) between gastric mucosa and dental plaque colonization with helicobactor pylori was significant (R = 0.30, P = 0.01). When concordant positivity of gastric biopsy culture and histology was taken as diagnostic, the sensitivity of dental plaque culture was found to be 82.9% and the specificity was 45.2%. CONCLUSIONS: This study revealed that helicobactor pylori has a high prevalence in the dental plaque of the population that we have studied and may therefore be of potential relevance in screening for such infection.