Evaluation of subgingival bacterial plaque changes and effects on periodontal tissues in patients with renal transplants under immunosuppressive therapy

Transplantation-Associated Long-Term Immunosuppression Promotes Oral Colonization by Potentially Opportunistic Pathogens without Impacting Other Members of the Salivary Bacteriome

“…Previous studies that evaluated the oral microflora in organ recipients suffered from the limitations of using a cultivation approach, which allowed identification of only a small number of species, and were confounded by the effects of antibiotics on the microflora of the studied subjects (31,32). Using high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA gene libraries, we found that pharmacological immunosuppression aimed at increasing allograft tolerance does not affect the most common and abundant bacterial species in saliva but increases the frequency of detection of microorganisms known to be the cause of extraoral infections in transplant recipients (4,27,30).…”

Gingival overgrowth in subjects under immunosuppressive regimens based on cyclosporine, tacrolimus, or sirolimus

“…Few studies investigated the oral microbiota of GO+ and GO− subjects and the results are varied (Romito et al 2004, Saraiva et al 2006, Spolidorio et al 2006, Gong et al 2008a, b). It was reported that the frequency of Streptococcus β ‐haemolytic was higher among GO− subjects (Saraiva et al 2006), and that the frequency of P. micra (formerly Micromomas micros ) was higher among GO+ subjects (Romito et al 2004). A higher frequency of P. gingivalis, T. denticola , and T. forsythia was also reported for GO+ subjects (Gong et al 2008a, b).…”

Orofacial diseases in solid organ and hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients

“…Thus, it seems unlikely that the transient increase in periodontal pathogens and the high serum level of inflammatory markers are associated with an increased risk of periodontal disease in SOT recipients. Indeed, clinical studies show that periodontitis is not more frequent after renal transplantation than in healthy controls (Vieira et al , 2002; Schander et al , 2009; Ioannidou et al , 2010; Shaqman et al , 2010), and in one study, transplant recipients showed a better periodontal status than controls (Saraiva et al , 2006). HSCT recipients are similar: there is no increased periodontal attachment loss after transplantation (Dobr et al , 2007), nor subjective complaints associated with poor periodontal health (Brand et al , 2009).…”

“…Immunosuppressive regimens in renal transplant recipients are associated with a dramatic, yet temporary, change in the oral subgingival microflora, but an increase in periodontal pathogens is rarely detectable within the first thirty days after surgery and immunosuppression (Saraiva et al , 2006). Periodontal pathogens appear and are at their highest during the third and fourth month (Leung et al , 2003; Saraiva et al , 2006), concomitant with the appearance of non‐resident opportunistic pathogens, such as staphylococci and Pseudomonas (Leung et al , 2003). Periodontal pathogens and non‐resident flora later fall to physiologic levels (Vieira et al , 2002).…”