Bs. Lembariti et al., MICROSCOPIC SPIROCHETE COUNTS IN UNTREATED SUBJECTS WITH AND WITHOUT PERIODONTAL TISSUE DESTRUCTION, Journal of clinical periodontology, 22(3), 1995, pp. 235-239
The purpose of the study was to determine microscopically the %s of sp
irochetes at sites without periodontal destruction in subjects with de
structive periodontal diseases (cases) and in subjects free of it (con
trols), who had not received professional prophylaxis. From a sample o
f 164 individuals aged between 30-44 years living in rural and urban a
reas of Tanzania, cases and controls were selected. Cases (n=25) were
selected who exihibited at least 3 teeth with pocket depth of >5 mm. T
he controls (n=28) had no pockets deeper than 3 mm. From each subject,
1 subgingival plaque sample was taken at the mid point of the lingual
surface of I of the upper premolars which showed bleeding on probing
but no calculus and no pockets. In addition, one subgingival sample wa
s obtained from a pocket. Pockets contained the highest %s of spiroche
tes, which confirms earlier findings. A significant difference in % of
spirochetes between cases and controls was found at non-destructive s
ites, indicating a host effect on the subgingival microflora. However,
the spirochete counts at non-destructive sites did not provide a reli
able measure to identify subjects with destructive periodontal disease
.