Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans, Bacteroides gingivalis and Bacteroides intermedius: predictors of attachment loss?

Abstract

The purpose of the present prospective study was to evaluate whether Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans, Bacteroides gingivalis and Bacteroides intermedius can be used to predict periodontal tissue destruction in sites with clinical signs of inflammation; 44 periodontal pockets in 30 adult patients were selected on the basis of (i) a probing depth of ≥6 mm and (ii) bleeding upon pocket probing. Assessments of oral hygiene and gingival conditions, probing pocket depths, probing attachment levels and bleeding upon probing were carried out at baseline and once every 3 months during a 1‐year period without periodontal treatment. Subgingival bacterial samples were collected from each site at baseline, at the 1‐year examination and at the intervening examinations if a site demonstrated ≥2 mm loss of probing attachment as compared with the baseline value. Following cultivation of the samples the proportions of A. actinomycetemcomitans, B. gingivalis and B. intermedius were determined in relation to the total viable count. The results demonstrated that at sites with an absence of A. actinomycetemcomitans and B. gingivalis or presence of less than 5%B. intermedius, no clinically significant loss of probing attachment (≥2 mm) occurred during the 1‐year observation period. In 25 sites where A. actinomycetemcomitans, B. gingivalis or ≥5%B. intermedius were present, only 5 showed loss of probing attachment of 2 mm or more. Thus, within the limitations of the study, it appeared that the absence of these “indicator” bacteria is a better predictor of no further loss of attachment than the presence of them for disease progression.

Isolation of Fusobacterium necrophorum from cancrum oris (noma).

“…49 It is one of the three bacteria present in 99.2% of progressing periodontal lesions 50 and is involved in adult periodontitis. 51,52 It is a frequent isolate from endodontic infections 53,54 and pregnancy gingivitis, 55 and has been associated with the periodontal breakdown in Type I diabetics. 56 This organism has also been observed in nonoral infections such as pleuropulmonary infections and abscesses of the head and neck.…”

Periodontal Disease as a Specific, albeit Chronic, Infection: Diagnosis and Treatment

“…A small percentage of tooth sites may show a burst of 2 to 3 mm of attachment loss (80), and a small percentage of individuals may show such rapid deterioration that they lose many of their teeth at an early age. In the former case, the incidence of "active" sites is so small and the bacterial flora is so variable that it is difficult to obtain a sufficient number of patients to demonstrate unequivocal differences between active and inactive sites (59,101,199,294,320). In the latter case, these rapidly progressing forms often occur within families, raising the possibility that there is a genetic component (213).…”

Oro-Facial Gangrene (Noma/Cancrum Oris): Pathogenetic Mechanisms

“…It is present in young children (Van Oosten et al, 1988;Frisken et al, 1990), male subjects during puberty (Moore, 1993), progressing periodontal lesions , adult periodontitis (Slots, 1986;Wennstrom et al, 1987), endodontic infections (Sundqvist, 1976;Van Winkelhoff et al, 1985;Gharbia et al, 1994), pregnancy gingivitis (Kornman and Loesche, 1980), and periodontal breakdown in Type I diabetics (Zambon et al, 1988), and has been identified as a putative pathogen in ANG lesions in young adults (Loesche et al, 1982). P. intermedia has also been isolated from nonoral infections such as abscesses of the head and neck and pleuropulmonary infections (Johnson and Holdeman, 1983;Finegold et al, 1993).…”