Prevalence of Subgingival Staphylococcus at Periodontally Healthy and Diseased Sites

Abstract

Staphylococci are considered members of the transient oral microbiota and are seldom isolated from the oral cavity. The aim of this study was to establish the prevalence of subgingival staphylococci in healthy and periodontal disease sites. Sterile endodontic paper points were used to isolate subgingival staphylococci in periodontally healthy and periodontally diseased sites in 30 adult subjects (n=540 sites). Staphylococcus spp were identified by an automated method and confirmed by conventional biochemical tests. All the samples were identified as coagulase-negative staphylococci. The results were analyzed using Mann-Whitney U, chi-square and Fisher's exact test at 5% significance level. A total of 86.7% of the subjects harbored these microorganisms in 11.7% of their periodontal sites. The most frequently isolated species was S. auricularis, which was isolated from 31.4% of the periodontal sites, followed by S. epidermidis, isolated from 21.4% of them. There was no statistically significant difference between the frequencies of these species isolated either from the healthy and the diseased sites (p>0.153). Although staphylococci are present in the subgingival environment and contribute to the pathogenic synergism involved in periodontal diseases, the results suggest that they do not participate directly in the pathogenesis of these diseases.

Significant Enrichment and Diversity of the Staphylococcal Arginine Catabolic Mobile Element ACME in Staphylococcus epidermidis Isolates From Subgingival Peri-implantitis Sites and Periodontal Pockets

“…Previous reports of the prevalence of subgingival S. epidermidis vary greatly, ranging between 15.9 and 64.3% in periodontal pockets ( Loberto et al, 2004 ; Murdoch et al, 2004 ; dos Santos et al, 2014 ) and between 42.9 and 60.7% in the subgingival sites of healthy participants ( Murdoch et al, 2004 ; Ohara-Nemoto et al, 2008 ), most likely due to different methods used. Data on the subgingival prevalence of S. epidermidis in patients with oral implants and/or peri-implantitis are largely lacking or did not undertake definitive identification of this species ( Leonhardt et al, 1999 ).…”

“…Firstly, studies did not definitively distinguish between distinct CoNS species and S. aureus ( Leonhardt et al, 1999 ). Secondly, different studies used semi-discriminatory agar media such as Baird Parker or MSA for primary recovery, which may have resulted in failure to select and further distinguish between morphologically similar colonies of distinct CoNS species ( Loberto et al, 2004 ; Cuesta et al, 2010 ; dos Santos et al, 2014 ). Thirdly, several previous studies relied on checkerboard DNA-DNA hybridization techniques for definitive identification of oral staphylococcal species from patients with dental implants, an approach that does not distinguish between viable and dead bacteria ( Fürst et al, 2007 ; Renvert et al, 2008 ; Salvi et al, 2008 ).…”

A preliminary study of mecA gene expression and methicillin resistance in staphylococci isolated from the human oral cavity

“…Both methicillin resistant isolates in the current study were collected from subgingival plaque samples of patients with chronic periodontitis lesions. Although some investigators [8][9][10] have isolated staphylococci from the subgingival biofilm collected from patients with chronic periodontitis as well as from healthy individuals, antimicrobial resistance of those staphylococci has not been adequately studied. Therefore, the detection of methicillin resistant isolates in subgingival plaque samples of patients with chronic periodontitis lesions warrants further investigations of antimicrobial resistance in staphylococci associated with periodontitis lesions.…”

“…For instance, staphylococci have been abundantly isolated from the subgingival biofilm collected from patients with chronic periodontitis as well as from healthy individuals. [8][9][10] A recent analysis of subgingival biofilm collected from patients with chronic periodontitis as well as from healthy individuals identified both S. aureus and CoNS including S. auricularis, S. epidermidis and S. saprophyticus as oral microorganisms. 8 Staphylococci are also found to colonize removable partial dentures along with Candida and enteric bacilli.…”

“…[17][18][19][20] Although methicillin resistance in staphylococci isolated from different human sources has been studied extensively 5 , there are very few studies on methicillin resistance in oral staphylococci. 9 The purpose of this study therefore was to investigate methicillin resistance in oral staphylococci, using the CDDT and PCR for the detection of the mecA gene.…”