{"id":234423,"date":"2026-04-01T19:08:04","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T00:08:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/04\/a-stiff-defense-physical-rigidity-of-healthy-gum-tissue-found-to-shield-against-chronic-periodontal-inflammation"},"modified":"2026-04-01T19:08:04","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T00:08:04","slug":"a-stiff-defense-physical-rigidity-of-healthy-gum-tissue-found-to-shield-against-chronic-periodontal-inflammation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/04\/a-stiff-defense-physical-rigidity-of-healthy-gum-tissue-found-to-shield-against-chronic-periodontal-inflammation","title":{"rendered":"A stiff defense: Physical rigidity of healthy gum tissue found to shield against chronic periodontal inflammation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"aligncenter blog-photo\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog.images\/a-stiff-defense-physical-rigidity-of-healthy-gum-tissue-found-to-shield-against-chronic-periodontal-inflammation.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Periodontitis is a serious chronic inflammatory form of gum disease that affects millions worldwide. It can lead to tooth loss and the destruction of supporting bone. This disease has also been linked to other health problems, including diabetes, respiratory infections, and heart disease, impacting quality of life and increasing health care costs.<\/p>\n<p>Current treatments target bacterial infection and inflammation through nonsurgical therapies, such as scaling and root planing, commonly known as \u201cdeep cleaning.\u201d However, they do not repair the gum\u2019s extracellular matrix (ECM), the gingival tissue\u2019s structural support that is damaged by chronic inflammation. Without this foundation, gingival tissue cannot function properly, allowing inflammation to persist and slowing healing.<\/p>\n<p>Now, new research led by Kyle H. Vining and Hardik Makkar of the School of Dental Medicine demonstrates how the physical properties of the gingival tissue impact periodontal health and disease. Their findings are published in <a href=\"https:\/\/advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1002\/adma.202520717\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Advanced Materials<\/i><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Periodontitis is a serious chronic inflammatory form of gum disease that affects millions worldwide. It can lead to tooth loss and the destruction of supporting bone. This disease has also been linked to other health problems, including diabetes, respiratory infections, and heart disease, impacting quality of life and increasing health care costs. Current treatments target [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":662,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1495],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-234423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biotech-medical","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/662"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234423\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}