Classification of periodontitis patients

A method for assessing whether a subject has mild periodontitis or advanced periodontitis, the method comprising:

• measuring in a sample of oral fluid from said subject concentrations of proteins HGF, MMP8, and MMP9 to obtain measurement results;
• comparing, using a processing unit, the measurement results with cluster centres to determine whether the measurement results for the subject fit with a first cluster or a second cluster, wherein the cluster centres are obtained by (i) determining concentrations of the proteins HGF, MMP8, and MMP9 in oral fluid samples of patients known to have periodontitis;
• and (ii) subjecting the determined concentrations for said patients to a clustering technique to obtain the first cluster and the second cluster, wherein the first cluster is a defined cluster and the second cluster is a non-defined cluster;
• when the measurement results fit with the first cluster, further measuring in a sample of oral fluid from said subject concentrations of additional proteins comprising IL1-β, IL6, and Collagen Telopeptide, thereby obtaining a first testing value reflecting joint concentrations measured for said additional proteins;
• when the measurement results fit with the second cluster, further measuring in a sample of oral fluid of said subject concentration of TIMP1, thereby obtaining a second testing value reflecting joint concentrations measured for said TIMP1 and the earlier measured concentration of the protein HGF;
• comparing, using a processor, the first testing value or the second testing value with a threshold value reflecting corresponding joint concentrations associated with advanced periodontitis, so as to assess whether the first testing value or the second testing value is indicative of mild periodontitis or advanced periodontitis in said subject;
• and
• determining of a treatment of the subject based on the indication of mild periodontitis or advanced periodontitis.

A method of diagnosing whether a human patient suspected of having periodontitis has mild periodontitis or advanced periodontitis based on concentrations of proteins in a sample of oral fluid from the human patient, the method comprising:

• measuring in the sample of oral fluid from the human patient concentrations of proteins HGF, MMP8, and MMP9 to obtain measurement results;
• comparing, using a processing unit, the measurement results with cluster centres obtained by (i) determining concentrations of proteins HGF, MMP8, and MMP9 in oral fluid samples of patients known to have periodontitis;
• (ii) subjecting the determined concentrations to a clustering technique to obtain a defined cluster and a non-defined cluster;
• determining whether the measurement results for the human patient fit with the defined cluster or the non-defined cluster;
• when the human patient fits with the defined cluster, further measuring in the sample of oral fluid from the human patient concentrations of additional proteins IL1-β, IL6, and Collagen Telopeptide, thereby obtaining a first testing value reflecting joint concentrations of the additional proteins;
• when the human patient fits with the non-defined cluster, further measuring in the sample of oral fluid of from the human patient a concentration of TIMP1, thereby obtaining a second testing value reflecting joint concentrations the TIMP1 and the earlier measured HGF;
• comparing, using a processor, the first testing value or the second testing value with a threshold value reflecting in corresponding joint concentrations associated with advanced periodontitis, so as to assess whether the first testing value or the second testing value is indicative of mild periodontitis or advanced periodontitis in the human patient;
• and
• determining a treatment of the human patient based on the indication of mild periodontitis or advanced periodontitis.

A method comprising:

• detecting a first set of proteins consisting of HGF, MMP8, and MMP9;
• separately detecting a second set of proteins consisting of IL1-β, IL6, and Collagen Telopeptide;
• separately detecting a third set of proteins consisting of HGF and TIMP1,
• wherein detecting each of the first, second and third sets of protein comprises:
• (a) obtaining an oral fluid sample from a human patient;
• and
• (b) detecting whether the proteins are present in the oral fluid sample by contacting the oral fluid sample with detection reagents for binding the proteins and detecting a binding between each of the proteins and the detection reagents.