Clinical, Cosmetic and Investigational Dentistry

Interconnections Between Periodontitis and Systemic Diseases: Biomarkers, Oral Potentially Malignant Disorders, and Oral Cancer

Clinical, Cosmetic and Investigational Dentistry is pleased to welcome you to submit your research to the Article Collection "Interconnections Between Periodontitis and Systemic Diseases: Biomarkers, Oral Potentially Malignant Disorders, and Oral Cancer".

Periodontitis is a highly prevalent chronic inflammatory disease in which a dysbiotic subgingival biofilm interacts with a susceptible host, producing sustained local tissue destruction and systemic inflammatory effects. Increasing evidence indicates that this process is not confined to the periodontium. Periodontal inflammation and microbial translocation may influence cardiovascular, metabolic, autoimmune, neurodegenerative, respiratory, and gastrointestinal disorders through shared immune pathways, endothelial dysfunction, altered metabolic signaling, and changes in the oral–gut microbial axis. Circulating, salivary, gingival crevicular fluid, tissue, genetic, epigenetic, microbial, and metabolomic biomarkers may help characterize these bidirectional relationships and identify patients at increased risk of systemic complications.

Understanding these interconnections is important because periodontitis, systemic inflammation, microbial dysbiosis, and oral carcinogenesis may share biological mediators and mutually reinforcing mechanisms. Biomarkers can provide mechanistic insight, improve risk stratification, and support earlier diagnosis and personalized prevention. At the same time, inflammatory and metabolic changes may reshape the oral microbiota, while microbial communities and their products can modulate immune responses, epithelial barrier integrity, and the local microenvironment. These interactions may also contribute to oral potentially malignant disorders and progression toward oral cancer. An integrated appraisal of periodontal, systemic, microbial, and oncological evidence is therefore needed to bridge dentistry and medicine and to define clinically meaningful translational pathways.

This Article Collection welcomes original research, clinical and translational studies, systematic reviews, scoping reviews, and focused narrative reviews examining periodontitis and systemic diseases; inflammatory, immune, vascular, metabolic, genetic, epigenetic, proteomic, metabolomic, and microbiome-derived biomarkers; oral–gut and other oral–systemic microbial axes; the effects of periodontal treatment on systemic and molecular outcomes; microbial and host determinants of oral potentially malignant disorders; and the transition from chronic oral inflammation to oral carcinogenesis. Particular interest will be given to longitudinal cohorts, interventional studies, multi-omics approaches, precision medicine, validated diagnostic or prognostic signatures, and studies integrating clinical periodontal measures with systemic, microbiological, and oncological outcomes.

Keyword: Periodontitis; Systemic inflammation; Biomarkers; Oral microbiome; Oral potentially malignant disorders

Meet the Guest Advisors

Prof. Gaetano Isola is Associate Professor of Periodontology at the University of Catania and President of the Degree Course in Dentistry and Dental Prosthodontics. He heads the International Research Center PerioHealth. His research focuses on periodontitis, oral–systemic interactions, oral microbiome, biomarkers, epigenetics, and translational approaches to periodontal and oral inflammatory diseases.

Dr. Alessandro Polizzi is a dentist and researcher at the University of Catania and a Subject Expert in Oral Pathology and Oral Medicine. He holds postgraduate training in orthodontics and conducts research on periodontal medicine, oral inflammation, systemic associations, biomarkers, and oral potentially malignant disorders. He has contributed to numerous peer-reviewed publications in dentistry and oral medicine.

Dr. Angela Angjelova is a dentist with academic training from Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje and postgraduate training in periodontology at the University of Catania. Her research interests include periodontitis, oral microbiota, periodontal–systemic interactions, and inflammatory mechanisms involved in oral disease. She has contributed to collaborative research and scientific publications in periodontology and oral medicine.

Elena Jovanova is a Doctor of Dental Medicine affiliated with the Unit of Periodontology at the University of Catania. Her research includes periodontitis, oral microbiota, periodontal regeneration, oral–systemic relationships, epigenetics, and artificial intelligence in dentistry. She has participated in collaborative reviews and research projects addressing inflammatory and microbial pathways in oral and systemic disease.