title: Respiratory pathogens in dental plaque of hospitalized patients with chronic lung diseases.
abstract: Bacterial cultivation studies have shown that dental plaque is a reservoir for respiratory pathogens in intensive care unit patients and in elderly who are debilitated, hospitalized or in a nursing home, placing them at risk of bacterial pneumonia. No information is available, however, concerning dental plaque as a reservoir of putative respiratory pathogens in hospitalized patients with chronic lung diseases. Supragingival plaque colonization of 34 hospitalized chronic lung-diseased Romanian citizens, excluding those with tuberculosis and less than 20 teeth, was therefore assessed by checkerboard DNA-DNA hybridization using a selected panel of whole genomic DNA probes produced from eight respiratory pathogens and eight oral pathogens. Thirty-one lung-healthy dental outpatients served as reference population. Respiratory pathogens were detected in plaque from 29 of the 34 (85.3%) hospitalized patients and 12 of the 31 (38.7%) reference population subjects. Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter baumannii, and Enterobacter cloacae occurred significantly (p<0.05) more frequent among the hospitalized patients. Hospitalized chronic lung-diseased patients harbored in their supragingival plaque samples bacteria known to cause nosocomial pneumonia significantly (p<0.001) more frequent than lung-healthy dental outpatients. Our results indicate that dental plaque in patients with chronic lung diseases often serves as a reservoir of bacteria known to cause nosocomial pneumonia in susceptible individuals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Embryology, Faculty of Dental Medicine, University of Medicine and Pharmacy Carol Davila, Bucharest, Romania.
authors.forename: Andreea C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Didilescu
authors.forename: Nils
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Skaug
authors.forename: Constantin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Marica
authors.forename: Cristian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Didilescu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis; D003773:Dental Plaque / Q000382:microbiology*; D004197:Disease Reservoirs; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D009910:Oral Hygiene; D018410:Pneumonia, Bacterial / Q000517:prevention & control*
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial