Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans and Prevotella intermedia in advanced chronic periodontitis patients.

R.D Vaithilingam,T.B Taiyeb-Ali,R Yusuf

doi:10.22452/adum.vol17no1.1

Abstract

This cross-sectional study was carried out to identify A. actinomycetemcomitans and P. intermedia in the subgingival plaque of three ethnic groups (Malays, Chinese and Indians) in a selected group of adult Malaysians with advanced Chronic Periodontitis and to correlate these findings with their periodontal status. Thirty periodontally diseased adults were age, gender and ethnically matched with 30 healthy individuals. Clinical parameters were assessed for all. Subgingival plaque samples were collected for identification of A. actinomycetemcomitans and P. intermedia using polymerase chain reaction. Prevalence for P. intermedia (83.3%) was high and A. actinomycetemcomitans (6.7%) low in the total subject population. P. intermedia and A. actinomycetemcomitans were more prevalent in diseased (86.7%, 10% respectively) than in healthy (80%, 3.33% respectively) subjects. A. actinomycetemcomitans was detected in 15% Indians, 5% Malays but none of the Chinese subjects whereas P. intermedia was detected in 90% Malays, 85% Indians and 75% Chinese subjects. No significant association between presence of A. actinomycetemcomitans and P. intermedia with race and periodontal disease status was found. Only A. actinomycetemcomitans had a significant association with clinical attachment level (CAL) (p < 0.05). In conclusion, in this small subject group, none of the pathogens were associated with race and periodontal disease status and only A. actinomycetemcomitans had a significant association with CAL.

Highlights

Periodontitis is a multi-factorial disease with the dental biofilm as its essential component
The results of this study demonstrate that prevalence of A. actinomycetemcomitans was low and P. intermedia high in both the diseased and healthy subjects
The low prevalence of A. actinomycetemcomitans detected in this study is similar to that reported previously by a number of workers who examined subjects based on disease status [10,18,19,20], higher detection levels for A. actinomycetemcomitans have been reported [8,9,17,21,22,23]

Summary

Introduction

Periodontitis is a multi-factorial disease with the dental biofilm as its essential component. Between 700 different types of bacteria have been detected in the mouth[1,2] out of which 400 or more species reside in the subgingival biofilm area [3]. Most of these bacteria are thought to be an indigenous part of the normal oral flora and not associated with oral diseases. Corresponding author: Dr Rathna Devi Vaithilingam intermedia), Porphyromonas gingivalis Gingivalis), Tannarella forsythensis (T. forsythensis) (formerly known as Bacteroides forsythus), Campylobacter rectus, Eikenella corrodens, Fusobacterium nucleatum and some uncultivable spirochaetes have been implicated as major putative pathogens associated with the development and progression of periodontitis [4]

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Conclusion