Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans and Fusobacterium nucleatum prevalence correlates with salivary microbial burden in Orthodontic patients

Abstract

Research ArticleIJDRR (2019) 2:9Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans and Fusobacterium nucleatum prevalence correlates with salivary microbial burden in Orthodontic patients.Objectives: Many factors influence the presence and growth of oral microbial flora, including the use of orthodontic appliances.Although much research has focused on classical oral pathogens, much less information is available to determine the relationship between Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans and Fusobacterium nucleatum among these patients. The primary objective of this study was to determine the relationship between oral prevalence of Aggregatibacter and Fusobacterium among orthodontic and non-orthodontic patient saliva samples.Experimental Methods: This study was a retrospective study of previously collected saliva samples from orthodontic (n=55) and non-orthodontic (n=55) patients using an approved protocol.DNA was extracted and screened for Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans and Fusobacterium nucleatum. Males and females were equally represented, although a majority of patients participating in this study were Hispanics and ethnic minorities.Results: PCR analysis of the DNA revealed that 54.5% of orthodontic samples harbored significant levels of Aggregatibacter Actinomycetemcomitans, while 29.1% of non-orthodontic samples harbored significant levels of Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans (p=0.0068). In addition, screening for Fusobacterium revealed 38% of orthodontic samples harbored this organism, compared with 33% of non-orthodontic samples (p=0.4599).