Porphyromonas endodontalis in chronic periodontitis: a clinical and microbiological cross-sectional study.
BACKGROUND
Although previous studies have shown the presence of Porphyromonas endodontalis in chronic periodontitis associated with periapical lesions, the occurrence of this pathogen in diseased periodontal sites without periapical lesions has been poorly investigated.


OBJECTIVE
The aims of this study were to quantify P. endodontalis in patients with chronic periodontitis without periapical lesions, to evaluate the potential correlation of P. endodontalis with Porphyromonas gingivalis and Tannerella forsythia, and to evaluate the ability of periodontal treatment to reduce these pathogens.


METHODS
Patients with generalized chronic periodontitis were selected by recording clinical attachment level (CAL), probing depth (PD), and bleeding on probing (BOP). Subgingival samples from 30 diseased nonadjacent sites (CAL≥5 mm, PD between 5 and 7 mm and positive BOP) and 30 healthy nonadjacent sites (PD≤3 mm and negative BOP) were collected and subjected to microbial analysis by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) The variables of age, PD, CAL and BOP of all individuals were analyzed using the paired t-test (GrapPad Prism5(®)). Data of bacteria quantification were subjected to a normality test (D'Agostino-Pearson Test). For bacterial correlation analysis, the Spearman correlation was used.


RESULTS
Our results showed that diseased sites had significantly higher levels of P. endodontalis compared to healthy sites, similar to the results obtained for P. gingivalis and T. forsythia. The numbers of all bacterial species were reduced significantly after mechanical periodontal treatment. P. endodontalis was significantly correlated with the presence of T. forsythia and P. gingivalis in the diseased group.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results suggest that there is a high prevalence of P. endodontalis, P. gingivalis and T. forsythia in periodontitis sites and that mechanical periodontal treatment is effective at reducing the pathogens studied.
Department of Oral Diagnosis and Surgery, Araraquara Dental School, State University of São Paulo, Araraquara, Brazil.
Telma Blanca
TB
Lombardo Bedran
Rosemary Adriana C
RA
Marcantonio
Rubens
R
Spin Neto
Marcia Pinto
MP
Alves Mayer
Daniel
D
Grenier
Luis Carlos
LC
Spolidorio
Denise Palomari
DP
Spolidorio