PERIODONTOPATHOGENS IN ELDERLY CHINESE WITH DIFFERENT PERIODONTAL-DISEASE EXPERIENCE

If an etiological relationship exists between destructive periodontal disease and putative periodontopathogens, they would be expected to ha ve a very low prevalence in periodontally healthy elderly persons. To test this hypothesis, 2 subgroups of elderly, rural Chinese (a periodo ntally ''best'' and a ''worst'' group, each comprising 15 persons) wer e identified in 1990 from a cohort aged 55-69 years, examined in 1984. Assessment of changes in periodontal status over the 6-year period we re possible by comparing detailed clinical recordings performed by the same examinator. Subgingival microbial samples were taken at the mesi al aspects of an upper central incisor and a lower canine and examined for the presence of Actinobacillus actinomy cetemcomitans, Porphyromo nas gingivalis, Prevotella intermedia group, Prevotella melaninogenica group, Capnocytophaga, Selenomonas, Campylobacter rectus as well as p redominant Streptococcus and Actinomyces species. During the 6 years p rior to microbiological sampling, persons in the ''best'' group had lo st an average of 1.21+/-0.48 mm attachment, while persons in the ''wor st'' group had lost an average of 1.60+/-0.94 mm. The latter group had lost 53.3 teeth, predominantly for periodontal reasons, in contrast t o 1.8 teeth lost in the ''best'' group. ''Best'' persons did not diffe r from ''worst'' persons with respect to the occurrence of the putativ e periopathogens, total viable count, and total streptococcal and Acti nomyces recovery. Similarly, sites which had experienced an attachment loss greater than or equal to 2 mm during the 6-year period did not d iffer microbiologically from sites with less attachment loss. It is co ncluded that subgingival microbial characterization does not allow for a distinction between elderly individuals with markedly different per iodontal disease