What are the factors that link apical periodontitis to excessive caffeine intake? We will talk about it in this article by analyzing what are the data of a recent dental research.
What is apical periodontitis?
Apical periodontitis is an infection of the oral cavity generated by inflamed pulp root tissue with a strong bacterial load. In the absence of adequate and effective endodontic treatment, acute apical periodontitis can degenerate into an apical bone lesion.
Symptoms of apical periodontitis are:
- continuous shooting pain;
- accentuated pain when chewing;
- pain on contact.
The presence of acute apical periodontitis exposes the patient to a very high risk of systemic inflammations and pathologies such as: cardiovascular diseases and diabetes mellitus.
Caffeine and predisposition to apical periodontitis
In an in vitro laboratory study performed on rats, which is being published in the International Endodontic Journal, the researchers evaluated the consequences of excessive caffeine intake on the inflammation and bone resorption processes associated with periapical periodontitis.
The test for the evaluation of the effect of caffeine was carried out on 16 Wistar rats. In each animal, at the level of the four first molars, periapical periodontitis was induced in the laboratory.
For the evaluation they were divided into two groups:
- Control group, which included rats with periapical periodontitis;
- Experimental group, in which rats with periapical periodontitis were included and administered caffeine according to a specific pre-established protocol.
In the experimental group, the animals received 10 mg for every 100 g of body weight per day of caffeine by gastric tube from fifteen days before the induction of PP and continuing for another thirty days until euthanasia.
On the thirtieth day, the animals were killed and the jaws removed to perform computed microtomography, histological analysis and immunohistochemistry to evaluate inflammation indices.
The results of the study in the laboratory
In the experimental group, i.e. in the one in which the rats were given caffeine, both the inflammatory process and the bone resorption were significantly greater than in the control group.
From the research data, which must be confirmed in other similar works and above all be reported on human patients, it can therefore be concluded that excessive caffeine intake is capable of increasing periapical bone destruction and the inflammatory process.
