Observational cross-sectional study of Trichomonas tenax in patients with periodontal disease attending a Chilean university dental clinic

Abstract

Background The oral flagellated protozoan Trichomonas tenax has been associated with patients with periodontal disease. However, no recent studies have been conducted on the prevalence of T. tenax in Chile. The aim of this study was to determine the presence of T. tenax in patients with periodontal disease, admitted to the Dental Clinic of the University of Antofagasta, Chile, through Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) amplification of the beta-tubulin gene. Methods An observational, cross-sectional study was conducted on 50 patients diagnosed with periodontal disease, 20 of them with gingivitis and 30 with periodontitis. T. tenax was identified by PCR amplification of the beta-tubulin gene. Associations between the protozoan and periodontal disease or the presence of risk factors to establish T. tenax infection were determined using the chi-square test and binary logistic regression analysis. Results T. tenax was present in 28 out of 50 (56%) of patients with periodontal disease, and was more prevalent when associated with periodontitis (21 out of 30; 70%) than dental plaque-induced gingivitis (7 out of 20; 35%). Non-statistically-significant associations were observed between the presence of T. tenax and age, gender, smoking habit or diabetes. Statistically significant associations were observed between the presence of T. tenax and periodontal disease, and between T. tenax and the Periodontal Screening and Recording (PSR) index. Conclusion T. tenax showed a high presence in patients with progressive states of periodontal diseases. Consequently, T. tenax detection is strongly recommended in patients with periodontal disease diagnosis and with a PSR index greater than 3. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12903-019-0885-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Oral Colonization by Entamoeba gingivalis and Trichomonas tenax: A PCR-Based Study in Health, Gingivitis, and Periodontitis

“…Analysis of different individual variables for possible association with increased likelihood of harbouring the oral parasites was futile to say the least. Patterns in the whole population differed when analysis was done by stratification into the three individual groups, and also no specific patterns were consistently found in other studies (Albuquerque Juńior et al, 2011;Ibrahim and Abbas, 2012;Bracamonte-Wolf et al, 2019). However, an interesting observation that can be seen in this study is that colonization by oral parasites per se appeared to be an independent risk factor for periodontal disease.…”

“…The few studies that used PCR for the detection of T. tenax , reported a higher prevalence among individuals with periodontitis compared to the control group ( Athari et al., 2007 ; Mehr et al., 2015 ; Bisson et al., 2018 ; Bracamonte-Wolf et al., 2019 ). However, the overall prevalence of T. tenax in these studies varied considerably among the periodontitis patients (26.9% vs. 40.0% vs. 70.0%), which might be related to the differences in the studied populations.…”

Oral colonization by Entamoeba gingivalis and Trichomonas tenax: PCR-based study in health, gingivitis, and periodontitis

“…Analysis of different individual variables for possible association with increased likelihood of harbouring the oral parasites was futile to say the least. Patterns in the whole population differed when analysis was done by stratification into the three individual groups, and also no specific patterns were consistently found in other studies (37, 58, 59). However, an interesting observation that can be seen in this study is that colonization by oral parasites per se appeared to be an independent risk factor for periodontal disease.…”

“…For periodontitis, results were available from three studies only, and the prevalence of E. gingivalis ranged from 26.9% to 80.6% (34, 36, 54). Three studies that used PCR for the detection of T. tenax , reported higher prevalence among individuals with periodontitis (39, 47, 57, 58). However, the reported prevalence in these studies varied considerably (26.9% vs. 40.0% and 70.0%), which might be related to the differences in the study populations.…”

Pyopneumothorax from coinfection by Trichomonas tenax and Geotrichum capitatum in a child from China: a case report

“…Trichomonas tenax is a very important species among the trichomonads that can infect humans. It was once regarded as a harmless commensal of the oral cavity due to poor oral hygiene and dentition or periodontal disease, but this is currently debatable [ 8 , 14 ]. T. tenax is the most common cause of trichomonad pulmonary infections, and it apparently gains entry to the lower respiratory tract by aspiration of oropharyngeal secretions.…”