Abstract
ObjectivesDespite the input of microbiome research, a group of 20 bacteria continues to be the focus of periodontal diagnostics and therapy. The aim of this study was to compare three commercial kits and laboratory-developed primer pairs for effectiveness in detecting such periodontopathogens.Materials and methodsFourteen bacterial mock communities, consisting of 16 randomly assembled bacterial strains, were used as reference standard for testing kits and primers. Extracted DNA from mock communities was analyzed by PCR in-house with specific primers and forwarded for analysis to the manufacturer’s laboratory of each of the following kits: ParoCheck®Kit 20, micro-IDent®plus11, and Carpegen® Perio Diagnostik.ResultsThe kits accurately detected Fusobacterium nucleatum, Prevotella intermedia/Prevotella nigrescens, Parvimonas micra, Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, Campylobacter rectus/showae, Streptococcus mitis, Streptococcus mutans, and Veillonella parvula. The in-house primers for F.nucleatum were highly specific to subtypes of the respective periopathogen. Other primers repeatedly detected oral pathogens not present in the mock communities, indicating reduced specificity.ConclusionsThe commercial kits used in this study are reliable tools to support periodontal diagnostics. Whereas the detection profile of the kits is fixed at a general specificity level, the design of primers can be adjusted to differentiate between highly specific strains. In-house primers are more error-prone. Bacterial mock communities can be established as a reference standard for any similar testing.Clinical relevanceThe tested kits render good results with selected bacterial species. Primers appear to be less useful for routine clinical diagnostics and of limited applicability in research. Basic information about the periodontopathogens identified in this study supports clinical decision-making.
Highlights
Fighting periodontal diseases is one of the major goals of oral health care, as such diseases affect more than two thirds of theClin Oral Invest (2016) 20:2515–2528 world population [1]
The commercial kits used in this study are reliable tools to support periodontal diagnostics
Bacterial mock communities can be established as a reference standard for any similar testing
Summary
Fighting periodontal diseases is one of the major goals of oral health care, as such diseases affect more than two thirds of theClin Oral Invest (2016) 20:2515–2528 world population [1]. Prime attention has previously been given to identifying the specific periodontopathic microorganisms, as both the onset and the characteristics of periodontal diseases are closely related to changes in the physiological oral habitat. When focusing on changes in this microbial community, different molecular methods can be used to detect oral pathogens related to periodontal disease [7,8,9,10]. Laborious and timeconsuming culture assays have been replaced by quick and easy molecular methods. Techniques such as fluorescence in situ hybridization and confocal laser scanning microscopy, DNADNA hybridization, PCR, real-time PCR, and, more recently, next-generation sequencing have accelerated and expanded the quest for unknown periodontopathogens [11,12,13,14]. The information gained from such studies is quite complex and standardized methods of data analyses are still being developed [15, 16]
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