The host response plays an important role in the pathogenesis of many types of periodontal diseases, contributing to the process of the disease by modulating the effects of bacteria, and the bacterial factor affects the lymphocytes and other cellular constituents through suppression, activation and mitogenity. In the gingival inflammation, increased quantities of neutrophils infiltrates in the dento-gingival region and underneath it. The functional defects of neutrophils and macrophages in chemotaxis predispose to the periodontal disease. Patients
with systemic diseases and who have defects f neutrophils frequently develop severe periodontitis and a few periodontal diseases have characteristic chemotactic defects. In the localized forms, comparing to those generalized, the functional defects of neutrophils and monocytes are less frequent, less severe and do not appear simultaneously. Patients with refractory periodontitis seem to have a reduced neutrophil function, the same as in the localized juvenile periodontitis.
- CELLULAR IMMUNE RESPONSE
- PERIODONTAL DISEASES