Detection of Helicobacter pylori in dental plaque and gastric biopsy samples of Turkish patients by PCR-RFLP

Helicobacter pylori is regarded as an important pathogen playing a key role in the pathogenesis of peptic ulcer. Different studies about the mode of transmission of the microorganism report conflicting results about dental plaque as the source of H. pylori infection. In the present study we aimed to detect the presence of H. pylori in dental plaque of Turkish patients by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and if any to do typing by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis. Fifty dyspeptic patients, to whom upper gastrointestinal endoscopy was performed, were included in the study. Dental plaques were obtained before endoscopic examination. Both dental plaque and gastric biopsy samples were amplified with Ure A and Cag A gene primers. There were no positive dental plaque samples even in the 23 patients whose gastric biopsy specimens were positive. Our findings showed that there is not a correlation between dental presentation of the microorganism and H. pylori gastritis.