PERIODONTAL STATUS AND DETECTION FREQUENCY OF BACTERIA AT SITES OF PERIODONTAL HEALTH AND GINGIVITIS

IT IS GENERALLY RECOGNIZED that bacteria in dental plaque at sites of periodontal diseases are not commonly found at sites of periodontal he alth. One hypothesis to explain the etiology of periodontitis is that pathogenic bacteria from diseased sites infect healthy sites. It has b een suggested that gingival inflammation may predispose sites to colon ization by bacteria associated with periodontal diseases. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to determine whether the detection f requency of selected bacteria at sites of periodontal health or gingiv itis differed between subjects who were in good periodontal health, su bjects who had gingivitis, or subjects with periodontitis. The clinica l status of every tooth (except third molars) from 106 subjects was ch aracterized by means of clinical attachment level, probing depth and b y signs of inflammation. Subgingival plaque was collected from mesio-f acial and disto-lingual surfaces. Specific monoclonal antibodies were used in an immunocytochemical assay to identify Campylobacter rectus, Eikenella corrodens, Porphyromonas gingivalis, pathogen-related oral s pirochetes (PROS, using Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum monoclo nal antibodies), T. denticola (serotypes A-D), T. socranskii subspecie s buccale and T. socranskii subspecies socranskii. Differences in dete ction of bacteria between groups of subjects were measured using odds ratios (OR). Results of this study indicate that PROS was the only ide ntified bacterium at sites of both health and gingivitis that demonstr ated a significant positive relationship with the presence of periodon titis. These findings do not prove that bacteria spread from periodont itis sites, nor do they imply that disease necessarily results from in fection. However, these data do suggest that some bacteria associated with periodontitis are more likely than others to tolerate conditions at healthy sites and that the presence of periodontitis increases risk of infection at healthy sites.