Abstract: Described herein are methods of classifying periodontal patients and individual teeth. For example, disclosed is a method of diagnosing periodontal disease and/or risk of tooth loss in a subject that involves classifying teeth into one of 7 classes of periodontal disease. The method can include the step of performing a dental examination on a patient and determining a periodontal profile class (PPC). The method can further include the step of determining for each tooth a Tooth Profile Class (TPC). The PPC and TPC can be used together to generate a composite risk score for an individual, which is referred to herein as the Index of Periodontal Risk (IPR). In some embodiments, each stage of the disclosed PPC system is characterized by unique single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with unique pathways, identifying unique druggable targets for each stage.

Abstract: An improved method and kit of determining whether a patient is predisposed to having severe periodontal disease and/or having high risk of progression of periodontal disease, comprising the steps of (i) taking a biological sample from said patient; (ii) genotyping said biological sample for genetic polymorphism pattern comprising IL 1B (rs16944), IL 1B (rs1143623) and IL 1B (rs4848306); and (iii) comparing said genetic polymorphism patterns to a reference composite genotype pattern; wherein the similarity of said genetic polymorphism patterns to said reference pattern indicate said patient's predisposition to having severe periodontal disease and/or having high risk of progression of periodontal disease.

Abstract: Methods, assays and kits are disclosed for detecting a mother's or a fetus's susceptibility to an adverse pregnancy outcome such as low birth weight. The methods comprise obtaining a biological sample from a patient and determining the presence or absence of an IL-1 allele 2 of a marker that is associated with an adverse pregnancy outcome.

Abstract: Methods for bone and periodontal tissue regeneration using cyclopentenone prostanoids and their agonists, and methods to retard pathophysiological calcification using cyclopentenone antagonists.