THE INFLUENCE OF RACE AND GENDER ON PERIODONTAL MICROFLORA

PREVIOUS STUDIES HAVE DEMONSTRATED that demographic characteristics of subject populations influence both the incidence of periodontal disea ses and various aspects of host responses to periodontal bacteria. In this study we analyzed the components of the subgingival microflora fr om individuals with adult periodontitis, early onset periodontitis, gi ngivitis, and periodontal health as a function of gender and race (bla ck and white). Clinical categories were analyzed individually so that there were no differences in the clinical characteristics of the sampl ed sites. No significant differences were noted in the subgingival mic roflora between males and females. When either the first two bacterial samples from each subject or all bacterial samples taken from each su bject were included in the analysis, it was found that Porphyromonas g ingivalis was more significantly associated with black subjects in the adult periodontitis group. When all samples were considered in the an alysis, it was found that Peptostreptococcus anaerobius was associated with black subjects in the adult periodontitis group, while Fusobacte rium nucleatum was associated with white subjects in both the adult pe riodontitis and early onset periodontitis groups. Thus a limited numbe r of important bacterial components of the subgingival microflora are influenced by the race and diagnosis of the subject group.