DNA probe detection of periodontopathogens in advanced periodontitis

Species-specific DNA probes were used to determine the presence of Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans (A.a.), Porphyromonas (Bacteroides) gingivalis, Prevotella intermedia, Treponema denticola. Eikenella corrodens, Fusobacterium nucleatum , and Wolinella recta in subgingival plaque from deep pockets/sites of patients with advanced periodontitis. The subjects were 20 patients with severe adult periodontitis, 13 men and 7 women (mean age 45.6 ± 6.7 yr). For each subject, 9–10 subgingival sites with the deepest probing depths from each quadrant were sampled by the paper point method, a total of 198 sites, with mean probing depth 7.2 ± 1.6 mm and clinical attachment level 9.5 ± 2.7 mm. A.a . was present in at least one site in 75% of the subjects; P. gingivalis was found in 95%; P. intermedia and W. recta were found in 90%, respectively; and T. denticola, E. corrodens , and F. nucleatum were found in all subjects. In the 198 samples, A.a . was detected in 25.8%, P. gingivalis in 51.5%, P. intermedia in 64.1%, T. denticola in 60.6%, E. corrodens in 72.9%, F. nucleatum in 74.7%, and W. recta in 65.7%. The predominant combination was the simultaneous presence of P. intermedia, T. denticola, E. corrodens, F. nucleatum , and W. recta in 89.5% of the subjects and 46.8% of the sites. Of these sites, 51.1% showed the combined presence of P. gingivalis and 28.4% that of both A.a . and P. gingivalis . None of the seven bacteria could be detected in 14.4% of the total sites sampled. The present study indicates that severe destructive adult periodontitis is a multibacterial infection and that certain combinations of periodontopathogens seein to be important in the pathogenesis of the disease.