Dentistry professor receives grant

Of the 3,000 reasons you've been told to brush your teeth, one more should be added -- it could save your life.\nDr. Michael Kowolik, professor of periodontics at IU's School of Dentistry, located in Indianapolis, just received a $1.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study whether dental plaque build-up may be a potential risk factor for heart disease.\n"It's very gratifying that a prestigious body sees the study as an exciting model with potential to be developed," Kowolik said, in a thick English accent. "Right now we are getting all our ducks in order."\nIn January, Kowolik and a crew of researchers will begin the two-year study. They are in the process of recruiting healthy non-smokers between the ages of 18 and 30, half of whom will be male, and the other half female. Within this group, Kowolik said, half the participants will be black and the other half Caucasian. \n"We are not aware of anyone in the world who has ever run this model in African American individuals," Kowolik said. "Genetics may also play a role."\nKowolik said each group of subjects will be committed for 11 weeks, and then a new group of subjects will be tested. There are three phases of the experiment. First, a group of healthy subjects will have their mouths cleaned professionally until all the plaque is removed, and they will be given one of the nine required blood tests to count their white blood cells among other things. For the next 21 days, they won't be allowed to brush their teeth; as the plaque accumulates and their gums inflame, Kowolik and his team will take more blood samples. After the three week period of poor hygiene, Kowolik said the subjects will have their teeth cleaned and their blood tested again, after all plaque has been removed.\n"We are not looking for heart disease in our subjects," said Sherie Dowsett, an associate professor at the dentistry school, who co-wrote the grant proposal with Kowolik. "It's an indirect study. We are looking for the response to plaque in the subject. We are testing a lot of different areas like white blood cells and proteins released in the blood when you get inflammation to see if some of the products produced as a result of dental plaque could be risk factors for heart disease." \nKowolik studied the relationship between plaque accumulation and white blood cells in 2001. He worked with the knowledge cardiologists gained in the 1980s, when they noticed people with higher white blood cell counts had an increased risk of heart attack.\nWhite blood cells respond to bodily infections. Everyday, it's absolutely normal for these cells to pour out of a healthy person's bone marrow in billions, Kowolik said.\nWhen confronted with a bacterial infection, this number can multiply to several more billion. In his previous study, Kowolik examined and quantified how white blood cells increased in people who let plaque accumulate on their teeth for 21 days without brushing. \n"What we find is when you see plaque on teeth, which is not a horrendous acute infection but still a bacteria, it is sufficient enough to cause a significant increase in the number of those defense cells," Kowolik said.\nThe primary difference between Kowolik's previous and current study is scale -- this is a much larger study, Kowolik said, with more statistical power. In light of his research, Kowolik suggests people take more time when brushing their teeth so they don't leave plaque behind. There's a chance, he said, that over time enough plaque could build up to tip that balance and put an otherwise healthy person at greater risk for coronary complications. \nFreshman Brian Stutsman remains skeptical of the possibility. \n"I think eventually everything's going to kill you, so it doesn't really matter," Stutsman said. "Brush your teeth and you'll be fine."\nOthers, like Kowolik and Dowsett, hope the study will change the face of dentistry, proving that dentists are useful for more than cleaning teeth and mouths. \n"It's not seeing the mouth as just an isolated part to keep clean," Dowsett said. "The mouth can really play a role in your general health. You shouldn't just be keeping your teeth clean so they look healthy. Cleaning your teeth keeps your whole body healthy."\n-- Contact staff writer Lindsay Lyon at lrlyon@indiana.edu.