title: Clinical evaluation of salivary periodontal pathogen levels by real-time polymerase chain reaction in patients before dental implant treatment.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Periodontal pathogens in dental plaque are the main causative agents of periodontitis and peri-implantitis. Detection of the presence of such periodontal pathogens early would serve as a useful tool in the diagnosis and treatment of this disease. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate whether the periodontal pathogen levels in saliva were correlated with the periodontal status of patients receiving implant treatment.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 291 patients visiting Tokyo Dental College Chiba Hospital were divided into four groups: a no-periodontitis (np) group, a mild-periodontitis (mip) group, a moderate-periodontitis (mop) group, and a severe-periodontitis (sp) group. The levels of the following five periodontal pathogens in saliva were evaluated using real-time polymerase chain reaction: Porphyromonas gingivalis, Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, Tannerella forsythia, Treponema denticola, and Prevotella intermedia.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The levels of P. gingivalis and T. forsythia were significantly higher in mop group than in np group (P < 0.05). The levels of all periodontal pathogens tested except A. actinomycetemcomitans were significantly higher in sp group than in np group (P < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The detection levels of the periodontal pathogens targeted in saliva samples were correlated with the periodontal status. This suggests that using saliva to screen for periodontopathic bacteria offers an easier-to-use clinical tool than the paper point method in the diagnosis and treatment of periodontitis and peri-implantitis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillo-Facial Implantology, Tokyo Dental College, Chiba, Japan.
authors.forename: Taichi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: Masaaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yasuda
authors.forename: Hajime
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kaneko
authors.forename: Hodaka
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sasaki
authors.forename: Tetsuo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kato
authors.forename: Yasutomo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yajima
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D003757:Dental Implantation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010518:Periodontitis / Q000382:microbiology*; D011300:Preoperative Care; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012463:Saliva / Q000382:microbiology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
keywords: clinical research; diagnosis; microbiology; periodontology