TAXONOMY AND IDENTIFICATION OF PERIODONTOPATHOGENIC BACTERIA AND RELATED SPECIES

The tumultuous evolution of oral and periodontal microbiology has focu ssed the attention of many researchers on the necessity to clarify;he taxonomic position and identification criteria of putative periodontop athogens, in order to elucidate the role played by each species in the pathogenesis of periodontal disease. Many of the most important perio dontopathogens recently underwent a radical reclassification process t hat may create some confusion and certainly deserves an accurate analy sis aimed at focussing the actual situation of these bacteria. The tax onomic evolution and identification criteria of species of the genera Bacteroides, Prevotella, Porphyromonas and Actinobacillus is here anal yzed in detail to clarify this recent evolutive taxonomic process, and to explain the importance of molecular studies for both taxonomic and identification purposes in this field.