title: Periodontal microbiota of mobile and non-mobile teeth.
abstract: The mechanism of accelerated periodontal destruction around teeth with occlusal trauma and increased mobility remains unclear. One possibility is that tooth mobility creates a subgingival environment conducive to overgrowth by periodontal pathogens. This study compared the subgingival microflora in mobile and non-mobile teeth of 35 adults on supportive maintenance therapy and 15 with untreated adult periodontitis. In each subject, subgingival paper-point samples were obtained from a mobile tooth with a probing depth of 4 mm or greater and from a non-mobile tooth with similar probing depth and gingival index. Samples were transported in VMGA III medium. Pockets around mobile teeth harbored significantly higher proportions of Campylobacter rectus (P = 0.001) and Peptostreptococcus micros (P = 0.05) than pockets with non-mobile teeth. Mobile teeth also tended to show elevated levels of Porphyromonas gingivalis, but this did not reach statistical significance. This study suggests that tooth mobility may constitute a risk for periodontal breakdown due to an increased subgingival occurrence of specific periodontopathogens. This hypothesis needs to be verified in longitudinal clinical and microbiological studies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Periodontology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA.
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Grant
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Grant
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Flynn
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Slots
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002167:Campylobacter / Q000302:isolation & purification; D003769:Dental Occlusion, Traumatic / Q000150:complications / Q000382:microbiology*; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010462:Peptostreptococcus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D017622:Periodontal Attachment Loss / Q000209:etiology / Q000382:microbiology; D010514:Periodontal Pocket / Q000382:microbiology*; D016966:Porphyromonas gingivalis / Q000302:isolation & purification; D014086:Tooth Mobility / Q000382:microbiology*