The Bacteriology of the Supragingival Plaque of Child Dental Patients in Kuwait

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the bacterial flora of the gingival plaques of pediatric dental patients in order to establish baseline data for future studies on the complex microbiota of the oral cavity of this group of child dental patients. Subjects and Methods: Forty subjects, aged 3–12 years, were enrolled and investigated after informed consent was obtained. During the patients’ first visit to the dental clinic supragingival plaque samples were collected from the gingival area of buccal and lingual tooth surfaces of all primary and permanent molar teeth using sterile curettes. Serially diluted samples were inoculated onto a set of selective and nonselective media and then incubated at the appropriate atmospheric conditions and temperatures. Representative colonies of isolates were identified by standard methods, including hemolytic characteristics on blood agar and profiling on API 20S and API 20A as appropriate. Results: A total of 183 isolates (123 aerobes and 60 anaerobes) were recovered from the 40 patients with a mean count of 3 per sample of aerobes compared to 1.5 per sample for the anaerobes. Streptococcus sanguis was the predominant aerobic species (23.6%) isolated from 29 (72.5%) of the 40 patients, followed by Streptococcus mitis, 19.5 and 60%, Streptococcus salivarius, 17.1 and 52.5% and Streptococcus mutans, 17.1 and 52.5%. The frequency of isolation of anaerobic bacteria was Prevotella spp. 50% from 30 (75%) of the 40 patients, Fusobacterium spp., 18.3 and 27.5%, Bacteroides spp., Porphyromonas spp. and Peptostreptococcus spp., 6.7 and 10%, 6.7 and 10%, and 5 and 7.5%, respectively. Prevotella intermedia was the single most common species. Conclusion: The results show that there were more aerobic/facultative anaerobic bacteria than the obligate anaerobes in the dental plaque of the pediatric dental patients in Kuwait. The high prevalence of the pioneering streptococci as well as black-pigmented Prevotella spp. and Fusobacterium spp. indicates that the dental plaques of the children were in the developing stage, a precursor to the development of periodontal diseases.

In Search of Spectroscopic Signatures of Periodontitis: A SERS-Based Magnetomicrofluidic Sensor for Detection of Porphyromonas gingivalis and Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans

“…Such a LOD value is sufficient to detect bacteria in human saliva, where the expected concentration is usually in the range between 10 4 and 10 8 cfu/mL. 61,62 3D-PCA (see Figure 4b) demonstrated the possibility of separating five strains belonging to P. gingivalis and three strains of A. actinomycetemcomitans (similar to 3D-PCA presented in Figure 3g,h). As can be noticed, PC-1 together with PC-2 and PC-3 is responsible for 87% of the variance in the data when compared with these two species.…”

“…The obtained limit of detection (LOD) was at the level of 10 3 cfu/mL (see Figure S7). Such a LOD value is sufficient to detect bacteria in human saliva, where the expected concentration is usually in the range between 10 4 and 10 8 cfu/mL. , …”

Oral Microbial Flora in Bulgarian Adolescents with Moderate Plaque-induced Gingivitis

“…1 In our study, the most prevalent anaerobic genera isolated in supragingival samples were Prevotella (27%), followed by Fusobacterium (16%). Our findings are in accordance with those of Salako et al 20 These authors analyzed supragingival plaque samples from healthy children, aged 3-12 years. Fifty percent of the anaerobic isolates were species of Prevotella genus and 18% were Fusobacterium spp.…”

Oral Microbiota in Severe Early Childhood Caries in Thai Children and Their Families: A Pilot Study

“…Early childhood caries is defined as the presence of one or more decayed, missing, or filled tooth surfaces in any primary tooth (dmft greater than zero) of children younger than 6 years old whereas S-ECC is defined as the presence of any smooth surface dental caries in children younger than 3 years old ( Vadiakas, 2008 ). Previous studies have attempted to understand the microbiological etiology of early childhood caries using various analytical approaches ( Salako et al, 2004 ; Corby et al, 2005 ; Rozkiewicz et al, 2006 ; Aas et al, 2008 ; Gizani et al, 2009 ). For example, Aas et al (2008) amplified, cloned, and sequenced 16S rRNA genes and, together with reverse-capture checkerboard DNA–DNA hybridization, analyzed patients recruited from Columbus, OH, United States from a diverse age range (2–21 years old).…”