The oral and intestinal microbiota have a proven influence on the pathogenesis of non-communicable chronic digestive diseases related to dysbiosis. Acute periodontitis is a multifactorial disease, caused by various etiological agents, one of these factors is the oral microbiota dysbiosis. This inflammatory disease has a high prevalence in Hispanic patients due to genetic, dietary, and environmental factors. Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans is a bacterium that commonly resides in the oral microbiota. This bacterium increases its presence in those individuals who present an oral microbiota dysbiosis. We hypothesize that by eradicating the acute periodontal disease in Hispanic patients, we can reduce Inflammatory Bowel Disease and establish the intimate relationship between the oral and intestinal microbiota by monitoring the prevalence of Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans. A longitudinal population-based cohort study will be used to survey the active periodontal disease and intestinal wellness of patients (N=25) adults. The biospecimen will be collected from saliva and stool samples once a month. The patients will be under treatment for periodontitis. Each patient will be tested using an Oral DNA test. Collected stool samples from patients will go through a biochemical analysis with fecal calprotectin baseline. After obtaining the data for each patient, we will perform a Pearson correlation coefficient test to analyze the relationship between the oral and gut bacteria, as well as a final health assessment. Through this study, we will establish Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, as the primary pathogen for this relationship. Moreover, we want to prove that proper oral health can reduce the incidence of IBD.
