UNMC investigators eye link between gum disease, rheumatoid arthritis

Inflamed receding gums. Loose teeth. A buildup of plaque that turns them brown.

Ted Mikuls, M.D.

Jeff Payne, D.D.S.

That’s periodontitis.

Aching joints. Hands that don’t work. Feet that are too painful to move.

That’s rheumatoid arthritis.

Two investigators at the UNMC believe the same bacteria cause both diseases.

Ted Mikuls, M.D., and Jeff Payne, D.D.S., have joined forces to investigate this link. They are co-investigators on a $1.2 million grant funded by the American College of Rheumatology.

The focus of the study is on P. gingivalis, a nasty bacteria that gets under the gum line and secretes an enzyme that destroys the bone. It also produces a protein that is found in the stiff, aching joints of people with rheumatoid arthritis.

The study involves investigators at UNMC and VA medical centers in Omaha, Dallas, Washington and Salt Lake City.

The will examine blood samples from healthy people who later developed rheumatoid arthritis.

To learn more For more information call Debbie Bergman, clinical study coordinator, at 402-559-8846.

“This will provide us the opportunity to see if infection with P. gingivalis precedes the onset of the disease,” Dr. Mikuls said.

Nearly 3 million people a year develop rheumatoid arthritis, while 35 percent of adults in the U.S. have periodontitis.

Anyone at any age can develop periodontitis but it is more common in people over the age of 35, Dr. Payne said. The statistics are similar for rheumatoid arthritis, Dr. Mikuls said.