The mouth-stomach crossing of Helicobacter pylori.

In order to confirm the mouth-stomach crossing of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) we performed a study to isolate the bacterium both from dental plaque and gastric mucosa of 83 subjects. Out of the 83 subjects, 62 were affected by gastroduodenal pathologies usually related to H. pylori whereas, the other 21 subjects were healthy. Each patient underwent one plaque sampling and three gastric samplings. The samples were cultured and an analytical technique, isoelectrofocusing (IEF), was used to show if dental and gastric strains isolated from the same subject had the same proteic profile. The H. pylori was isolated from the dental plaque of five subjects. Out of these, four subjects were suffering from gastric pathologies and the H. pylori was besides isolated from their gastric mucosa. The dental and gastric strains isolated from the same patient showed the same proteic profile. The hypothesis of H. pylori crossing from mouth to stomach seems to be confirmed.