THE USE OF A RAPID ENZYMATIC ASSAY IN THE FIELD FOR THE DETECTION OF INFECTIONS ASSOCIATED WITH ADULT PERIODONTITIS

There are few objective assays for studies of the epidemiology of peri odontal diseases. The PerioScan(TM) is an assay capable of detecting t hree periodontal pathogens, namely T. denticola, P. gingivalis, and B. forsythus, which have been associated with adult periodontitis. The P erioScan(TM) was tested in a sample of 301 Brazilians. Clinical indice s-bleeding, probing depth, gingival index, and periodontal index-were recorded from four sites in each subject. Subgingival plaque samples w ere collected from those sites and placed on the PerioScan(TM) card. C olor results were scored in the field after 15 minutes. The plaque sam ples were screened with polyclonal antibodies for the three species by an ELISA system. The PerioScan(TM) when compared with the ELISA syste m, yields a sensitivity of 91 percent, specificity of 89 percent, and an accuracy of 90 percent. When the PerioScan(TM) was compared to clin ical indices, there was a high sensitivity (at least 93%) and a low sp ecificity (no less than 47%), with an accuracy of at least 61 percent.