Precision Periodontology: Integrating Microbiome, Biomarkers, and Patient-Specific Risk Assessment
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.68041/medsc.v1i1/06Keywords:
Periodontitis, Precision Medicine, Risk Assessment, Dysbiosis, Biomarkers, Gingival Crevicular Fluid, MicrobiotaAbstract
Periodontitis is a prevalent, polyetiological inflammatory disease in which subgingival dysbiotic communities interact with a vulnerable host. The current stage and grade classification only reflects severity and progression risk, but not the differences in responses to the same treatment for patients with similar presentations. According to this perspective, precision periodontology would require three complementary layers of data, including microbiome profiling, patient-specific risk factors, and host-derived biomarkers. Using an appraisal of the literature based on a personal narrative, it argues that any single layer is an incomplete predictor and that a more convincing pathway to individualized risk stratification, treatment choice, and maintenance planning will be through integrated and longitudinally updated models. This viewpoint suggests a conceptual outline and discusses challenges to implementation: standardization of the assays, validation in a variety of populations, cost, and data governance. Moving from population-average care to individually tailored care will require prospective trials that test biomarker- and microbiome-guided decisions against standard care.
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