Yt. Chen et al., BACTERIAL ADHERENCE TO GUIDED TISSUE REGENERATION BARRIER MEMBRANES EXPOSED TO THE ORAL ENVIRONMENT, Journal of periodontology, 68(2), 1997, pp. 172-179
MICROBIAL COLONIZATION OF BARRIER MATERIALS used in guided tissue rege
neration (GTR) is known to adversely affect treatment outcomes. The pu
rpose of this study was to compare the rate at which 11 commonly-occur
ring oral bacteria species colonize three different barrier materials
(collagen, expanded polytetrafluoroethylene, and polylactic acid). The
study group consisted of 10 systemically healthy individuals with no
history of periodontal disease and absence of antimicrobial therapy wi
thin the previous 3 months. In each patient, 4 teeth per quadrant (P1,
P2, M1, M2) were selected and 3 teeth were randomly assigned as test
teeth while the remaining tooth acted as a control site (i.e., natural
colonization of the tooth surface). These teeth were then randomly as
signed to receive one of the three barrier types (i.e., each patient r
eceived 4 barriers of each type, 1 per quadrant). A 2 x 5 mm piece of
barrier material was positioned over the oral surface of the buccal ma
rginal gingiva and secured with an external sling suture. With oral hy
giene procedures suspended, one barrier of each type was collected at
1, 3, 7, and 14 days. Slot immunoblot assay demonstrated that all spec
ies types (A. actinomycetemcomitans, A. viscosus, B. melaninogenicus,
F. nucleatum, P. gingivalis, P. intermedia, S. mutans, S. sanguis, Sel
enomonas sputigena, T. denticola, and T. vincentii) were present. Semi
-quantitative scoring (scale 0 to 3) of slot blot results and analysis
by chi-square ratio and Pearson correlation test indicated that while
total bacteria adherence increased over time (P < 0.05), the 3 barrie
r types and the control sites did not differ in numbers or species of
colonizing bacteria detected per time point. These results suggest tha
t under these experimental conditions the barrier materials tested do
not differ in bacteria adherence or antimicrobial properties.