Systems Medicine And Periodontal Diseases

Periodontal medicine has seen tremendous advances during the era of molecular medicine started in the 1950s. Findings of this research are now being complemented by systems biology and systems medicine approaches to studying human well-being and chronic disturbances in multiorgan systems. While the integration of "omics" technologies to investigate, diagnose, and tailor therapy for periodontal disease is in its infancy, multiple lines of evidence support the feasibility of personalized periodontal medicine. The path to identify compound markers of disease activity and therapeutic targets using integrated "omics" is now established. This chapter provides an overview of the advances in our understanding of periodontal diseases and discusses current concepts within the framework of systems medicine.