Pharmacology of Periodontal Disease.

Peridontal disease is a very prevalent disorder, and in the absence of proper oral hygiene and dental care, it can progress to a painful inflammatory condition. These conditions require early professional attention, which poses an important problem to all phases of military operations. Professional care is not always readily available during field operations, and an acute episode of periodontal inflammation could decrease the combat efficiency of affected personnel or perhaps become mission abortive, especially during fleet or submarine missions. We have conducted a focused study of the cellular pharmacology of a number of agents, singly and in combination, which may be useful under field conditions to prevent progressive periodontal disease. The major objective of this study has been the identification and evaluation of drugs with the greatest potential for preventing advanced periodontal disease under field conditions. The secondary objective of this study was to establish and provide research protocols for future evaluation of drugs potentially useful in pharmacological intervention in periodontal disease. We decided to use isolated human polymorphonuclear leukocytes PMN as our model system for drug evaluation.