The goal of this study is to facilitate early diagnosis of gum disease. Proteins associated with cell death will be isolated from gum pockets of diseased and healthy patients and evaluated.

Early detection of the progression of periodontitis is difficult because it typically relies on comparisons of clinical measurements made with a calibrated probe and nonstandardized radiographs over time. Both methods detect periodontal breakdown only after it has occurred. Therefore, considerable emphasis has been placed on identifying more specific and sensitive methods to diagnose and detect periodontal disease progression. The overall goal of this project is to determine whether specific apoptosis-associated proteins, specifically fibronectin (FN) fragments, caspase-3, soluble Fas, and soluble Fas ligand, sampled from gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) can be used as markers for periodontal disease progression.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Adults over age of 18
• Healthy or diagnosis of periodontitis

Exclusion Criteria:

• Active treatment with anti-inflammatory agents such as NSAIDs or steroids and pregnant females

healthy adults with healthy gums or those with periodontitis