Sixty two patients (mean age 45.6 years) were assessed for oral hygiene and periodontal disease by dental examination before endoscopy. Information about oral care, smoking, and dentures was obtained and samples of dental plaque collected. The presence of Helicobacter pylori in plaque as sought by culture and polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and gastric antral biopsy specimens were taken for histological examination. Although H pylori was detected in the antral specimens of 34 patients (540/o) all of the cultures of dental plaque were negative, and PCR was only positive from the dentures of one patient. Smokers had poor oral hygiene, visited their dentist less often, and brushed their teeth less frequently. There was no correlation of H pyloni gastritis with either dental hygiene or periodontal disease. These results suggest that dental plaque or dentures are not an important reservoir for H pylon and are probably not a significant factor in transmission of the organism. The conflicting results in published works may be caused by differences in sample collection, culture techniques, or oral contamination from gastric juice as a result of gastro-oesophageal reflux at the time of endoscopy. (Gut 1995; 37: 44-46)
and the *Bacteriology Laboratory, Bradford Royal Infirmary, Bradford SUMMARY Faeces or rectal swabs from 1527 subjects were examined for the presence of intestinal spirochaetes by anaerobic culture on blood agar incorporating spectinomycin (400 mg/l). Twenty three specimens (1-5%) were positive, and only one of these came from a patient with diarrhoea. All positive specimens came from either Asians or known homosexuals. Comparative tests showed a close phenotypic similarity between the human isolates and non-pathogenic porcine intestinal spirochaetes. These organisms differ from Brachyspira aalborgi, a spirochaete isolated from subjects with histologically confirmed intestinal spirochaetosis.Organisms similar to spirochaetes were first observed in faeces, using the light microscope, towards the end of the last century.' Associations were noted with cholera, dysentery, and other intestinal conditions, but later studies described the presence of spirochaetes in the faeces of normal healthy subjects, and similar organisms were found in the intestinal tracts of various animal species.2 A wide variation was noted in the incidence of spiral organisms in specimens collected in different geographical areas.2 4 Further interest was stimulated by the advent of electron microscopy. True spirochaetes with axial fibrils were shown in the intestinal tracts of man and animals.5
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