Resistance and Susceptibility to Oral Disease. I. A Study in Gingivitis and Carbohydrate Metabolism

¹ Department of Oral Medicine, University Medical Center, Birmingham, Alabama

It is generally recognized in clinical circles that an etiologic factor does not always yield the same disease, quantitatively or qualitatively. It is also generally agreed that a therapeutic technique does not always produce the same end-result and, in some instances, yields no beneficial effects. In such cases, the discrepancy is frequently ascribed to differences in host resistance and susceptibility. An attempt has been made in this report to try to establish one measure of host state through a consideration of the response to oral prophylaxis in patients with different non-fasting blood glucose levels. Within the limits of this study, it seems one can partially explain the response to local therapy through a study of carbohydrate metabolism. Obviously, this hypothesis should be checked in terms of other clinical findings analyzed in the light of other biochemical and metabolic measures.