Extracellular Vesicles in Periodontal Medicine : The Candidates Linking Oral Health to General Health

The term, periodontal medicine is used to describe the multitude of systemic diseases which are regarded to link periodontal disease. The concept of periodontal medicine has been widely accepted today, however, the molecular mechanisms which periodontal diseases impact general health in whole body are not elucidated in detail. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) and outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) are the nano-sized particles released from mammalian cells and bacterial cells resectively, which influence the health and various disease by transporting biological factors to the neighbor and distant cells. In this review, we will discuss whether EVs and OMVs produced in periodontal diseases could be implicated in periodontal medicine.