COMPARISON OF THE SUBGINGIVAL MICROBIOTA OF PERIODONTALLY HEALTHY ANDDISEASED ADULTS IN NORTHERN CAMEROON

Our study is the Ist report on subgingival microbiota in adult Cameron ians. The aim was to investigate, using the checkerboard DNA-DNA hybri dization technique, the prevalence of 18 oral species in subgingival p laque samples obtained from sex- and age-matched Cameronian adults wit h and without periodontal destruction. We also compared cultivation an d the Affirm(TM) DP test with the checkerboard technique in their capa bility to detect some selected species among the 18. 21 adult periodon titis patients and 21 periodontally healthy subjects were examined and the results were compared statistically. Each periodontitis patient h ad at least 4 pockets of greater than or equal to 6 mm depth, while th e healthy subjects had no sites more than 3 mm deep. Results of the ch eckerboard analysis showed that significantly (p<0.05) more periodonti tis patients tested positive for most of the 18 bacterial species, The Gram-positive species Actinomyces naeslundii, Streptococcus mitis and Streptococcus sanguis, known as microbiota of healthy sites, were det ected significantly more frequently in the healthy group. Cultivation demonstrated P. gingivalis, B. forsythus, A. actinomycetemcomitans, P. intermedia and F. nucleatum in significantly lower %s of patients as compared to the checkerboard technique. Furthermore. the Affirm(TM) DP test detected P, gingivalis and B, forsythus in significantly feu er patients than did the checkerboard technique, A. actinomycetemcomitans was detected in 52.3% of the patients by the latter technique while t he Affirm(TM) DP test failed to detect the bacterium in any of the sam ples. Overall, the results of the present study confirm the importance of the screening method and indicate that the prevalences of the inve stigated putative periodontal pathogens and beneficial species in the healthy and diseased adult Cameronians were similar to those reported for adults in the West and in some developing countries.