Nutrigenomics: Understanding the Role of Nutrients and Gene Interactions in Periodontal Disease

Periodontal disease is a progressive inflammatory process, involving periodic destruction of periodontal attachment apparatus and loss of structures of the apparatus, essentially gingiva, periodontal ligament, cementum, and alveolar bone, ultimately resulting in loss of tooth in most susceptible patients.1 Advanced knowledge on the pathogenesis of periodontal destruction and the role of nutrients on it, has increased the interest to determine the relationship between periodontal disease and nutrition.2 It is also essential to know that periodontal disease risk is determined by genotype and dietary interactions.3 Nutrients that play an important role in inflammatory and immune responses can in turn regulate and modulate periodontal health.4 Nutrigenomics is a branch of nutritional genomics, which uses genomic tools in nutritional research to focus on the identification and understanding of the molecular-level interaction between nutrients and genomes.5 It provides information on the influence of nutrition on the metabolic pathways and homeostatic control and also allows us to know the disturbances arising in this regulation, at an early stage.6 This literature review provides a detailed description of the role of nutrition in periodontal disease and recommends the daily nutritional intake necessary for the prevention of periodontal disease.7 How to cite this article: Nellipunath AS, Aghanashini S, Mallikarjunappa AS, et al. Nutrigenomics: Understanding the Role of Nutrients and Gene Interactions in Periodontal Disease. J Contemp Dent 2019;9(3):135–140.