Advances in periodontal diagnosis. 10. Potential markers of bone resorption.

This paper describes the markers of bone resorption which might serve as potential markers for periodontal disease activity. It firstly describes the bone specific proteins which are involved in bone mineralisation and the role they play in this process. It then explains how they may pass into GCF and reviews those studies which have attempted to relate these factors to periodontal disease severity and activity. It next discusses the difficulties in isolating and detecting these factors in GCF and their possible use as markers for periodontal disease activity. As the final part in the series it lastly discusses the possible uses of predictive diagnostic tests of periodontal disease activity in dental practice.