CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATIONS Available online at www.sciencerepository.org Science Repository * Correspondence to: Felipe Rodolfo Pereira da Silva, Department of Morphology, Federal University of Amazonas, General Rodrigo Octavio Jordão Ramos Avenue, 1200, Coroado, Manaus, Amazonas, CEP: 69067-005; Tel: +5592992873755; E-mail: feliperodolfo.15@hotmail.com © 2020 Felipe Rodolfo Pereira da Silva. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Hosting by Science Repository. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.31487/j.CEI.2020.01.03 Review Article Two-Way Relationship Between Helicobacter Pylori Infection and Periodontitis: Results from A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Felipe Rodolfo Pereira da Silva 1* , Reyce dos Santos Koga 2 , Zinalton Gomes de Andrade 2 , Larissa dos Santos Pessoa 3 , Juliana Gomes Galeno 1,4 , Alessandro Luiz Araújo Bentes Leal 2 , Any Carolina Cardoso Guimarães Vasconcelos 1,5 , Daniel Fernando Pereira Vasconcelos 3,4 , Silvania Conceição Furtado 1,2 and José Fernando Marques Barcellos 1,2 1 Doctorate Student Post-Graduation Program in Basic and Applied Immunology, Federal University of Amazonas, Manaus, Brazil 2 Department of Morphology Biological Sciences Institute, Federal University of Amazonas, Manaus, Brazil 3 Department of Biomedicine, Laboratory of Histological Analysis and Preparation, Federal University of Piaui, Parnaiba, Brazil 4 Department of Periodontology, Federal University of Piaui, Teresina, Brazil 5 Department of Study and Research Methods, Medicine School, Education Institute of Parnaiba Valley (IESVAP), Parnaiba, Brazil A R T I C L E I N F O Article history: Received: 2 January, 2020 Accepted: 17 January, 2020 Published: 23 January, 2020 Keywords: Periodontal disease gastrointestinal tract odds ratio periodontal medicine risk factor A B S T R A C T Aim: Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection and periodontitis have considerable worldwide prevalence once they both present systemic alterations with a possible association between them. Therefore, we have performed this meta-analysis to assess the possible association between H. pylori infection and periodontitis. Material and Methods: A systematic search in the literature was performed for studies published before December 2, 2019 in diverse scientific and educational databases. The data was extracted by two investigators and the statistical analysis was performed by Review Manager statistical program with heterogeneity and Odds Ratio (OR) with 95% of Confidence Intervals (CI) calculations as well as a sensitive analysis to assess the accuracy of the results. The value of P<0.05 was considered as significant. In addition, we performed the analysis of the quality of included studies as well as the evaluation for risk of bias. Results: In overall analysis, H. pylori infection was associated with the risk of periodontitis development (OR = 1.72, CI: 1.47, 2.02, P<0.00001) and the periodontitis was considered as a risk factor for H. pylori infection (OR = 3.21, CI: 2.31, 4.47, P<0.00001). Moreover, the evaluation of dental plaque from patients with periodontitis reveled increased risk of H. pylori infection (OR = 3.46, CI: 2.39, 5.01, P<0.00001). Conclusions: This current systematic review and meta-analysis composed by 12 studies in 7,059 participants showed that H. pylori infection increased significantly the risk of the development of periodontitis and the periodontitis may be a risk for this bacterial infection. © 2020 Felipe Rodolfo Pereira da Silva. Hosting by Science Repository. All rights reserved Introduction Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) are gram-negative, spiral-shaped and microaerophilic microorganisms that colonize the human gastric- intestinal tract, specifically the stomach [1]. This bacteria species is commonly transmitted by oral-fecal way within family since early childhood with possibly persistence for decades in the gastric mucosa despite the host immune response [2]. This microorganism is already associated with several gastric disorders from gastritis to gastric cancer [3, 4]. In the medical clinic scenario, several types of diagnostic methods are available to detect H. pylori infection, such as: histological evaluation, Rapid Urease Test (RUT), molecular technics, serological kits and culture [5-7]. H. pylori infection also was associated with several others extra gastric conditions [8]. Studies available in literature report the relationship