MICROBIOLOGICAL FINDINGS IN PREPUBERTAL PERIODONTITIS - A CASE-REPORT

GENERALIZED PRE-PUBERTAL PERIODONTITIS (GPP) is a rare entity that usu ally affects children with severe systemic diseases. We report the cas e of a 7-year-old male patient diagnosed with GPP, with no apparent sy stemic condition, who lost all his primary teeth to periodontal diseas e. Before extractions, while he was still in mixed dentition the subgi ngival plaque was collected and analyzed using DNA probes to 40 differ ent microorganisms. Putative periodontopathogens such as Prevotella in termedia, Selenomonas noxia, Fusobacterium nucleatum, and Actinobacill us actinomycetemcomitans could be identified throughout the mouth. Mor e intriguing was the colonization of the sulcus of some secondary teet h by potentially harmful microorganisms found in pockets of diseased a djacent primary teeth.