title: Symptomatic and asymptomatic apical periodontitis associated with red complex bacteria: clinical and microbiological evaluation.
abstract: In this study, the association of red complex (RC) bacteria that include Treponema denticola,                 Tannerella forsythia and Porphyromonas gingivalis with acute, exacerbated or chronic apical periodontitis was evaluated. Seventy-one patients with periapical disease were evaluated by clinical examination and microbiological samples obtained from the root canals were analyzed by a polymerase chain reaction assay. Twenty-one (29.6%) samples were positive for RC bacteria, with T.                 denticola, T. forsythia and P. gingivalis being detected in 14 (19.7%), 10 (14.1%) and 6 (8.5%) samples, respectively. RC bacteria were mainly associated with acute apical periodontitis (29.2%) and phoenix abscess (63.2%), while they were only sporadically detected (7.1%) in patients with chronic apical periodontitis. Generally, RC bacteria were associated with pain and a higher frequency of intracanalar/intrasulcular pus drainage. Involvement of RC bacteria in symptomatic periapical disease should be suspected in the presence of particularly severe clinical pain and pus drainage.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Dental Science, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Buonavoglia
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Latronico
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pirani
authors.forename: Maria Fiorella
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Greco
authors.forename: Marialaura
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Corrente
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Prati
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D041963:Bacteroidetes; D003786:Dental Pulp Cavity / Q000382:microbiology*; D005260:Female; D006089:Gram-Negative Anaerobic Bacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016905:Gram-Negative Bacterial Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000382:microbiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010485:Periapical Periodontitis / Q000145:classification / Q000382:microbiology*; D016966:Porphyromonas gingivalis; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D048373:Treponema denticola; D055815:Young Adult