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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jan 14, 2016; 22(2): 641-648
Published online Jan 14, 2016. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i2.641
Helicobacter pylori colonization of the oral cavity: A milestone discovery
John KC Yee
John KC Yee, Research Lab of Oral H. pylori, Everett, WA 98208, United States
Author contributions: Yee JKC solely contributed to this manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: John KC Yee owns shares in the Research Lab of Oral H. pylori and owns patent ZL 2009 1 0260923.X LGM eliminating Oral H. pylori.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dr. John KC Yee, Research Lab of Oral H. pylori, 125 130th Street, Everett, WA 98208, United States. kcyee@ameritek.org
Telephone: +1-425-3792580 Fax: +1-425-3792624
Received: April 13, 2015
Peer-review started: April 15, 2015
First decision: May 18, 2015
Revised: August 4, 2015
Accepted: October 12, 2015
Article in press: October 13, 2015
Published online: January 14, 2016
Processing time: 268 Days and 15.3 Hours
Abstract

Over the past several years, the severity of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infections has not significantly diminished. After successful eradication, the annual H. pylori recurrence rate is approximately 13% due to oral H. pylori infection. Established clinical diagnostic techniques do not identify an oral etiologic basis of H. pylori prior to gastric infection. There has been disagreement as to whether oral infection of H. pylori exists or not, with no definite conclusion. In medical practice, negative results with the urea breath test suggest that the stomach infection of H. pylori is cured in these patients. In fact, patients can present negative urea breath test results and yet exhibit H. pylori infection due to oral infection. The present paper provides evidence that H. pylori oral infection is nonetheless present, and the oral cavity represents a secondary site for H. pylori colonization.

Keywords: Antigen test for oral urease; Cell culture; Helicobacter pylori; Lysine and glycerol monolaurate mouthwash solution; Oral cavity

Core tip: Recent studies designed to test the role of the oral cavity as a significant reservoir for Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) and that used more appropriate methodologies have produced contrasting facts with respect to the existence of oral H. pylori. In this article, the author presents evidence supporting the oral cavity as a second colonized site for H. pylori, besides primarily residing in the stomach, which plays a significant role in H. pylori diagnosis, transmission, and treatment. Additionally, this article introduces new technology for the diagnosis, cell culture, and treatment of oral H. pylori.