title: Oral cavity anaerobic pathogens in biofilm formation on voice prostheses.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based method has been used to identify oral anaerobic pathogens in biofilms on voice prostheses. The purpose of the present study was to determine the location of those pathogens inside the biofilms.
  
  
  METHODS
  Biofilms of 15 voice prostheses were sampled and used to identify the oral pathogens. Fluorescence in situ hybridization was applied on smears made on glass slides and on sections of intact biofilms visualized by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fusobacterium nucleatum (F. nucleatum) was the most frequently detected pathogen and the only tested species detected in microcolonies. The other microbes (Parvimonas micra [P. micra], Porphyromonas gingivalis [P. gingivalis], Tannerella forsythia [T. forsythia], and Treponema denticola [T. denticola]) were not detected or only detected as single cells. CLSM analysis showed that F. nucleatum resided on the biofilm surface.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although detectable, oral anaerobic pathogens seem to be no more than passers-by that adhere without further observed proliferation and apparently play no striking role in biofilm formation on voice prostheses.
authors.affiliation: Division of Oral Surgery, Bernhard Gottlieb School of Dentistry, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Kristina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bertl
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Zijnge
authors.forename: Beata
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zatorska
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Leonhard
authors.forename: Berit
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Schneider-Stickler
authors.forename: Hermie J M
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Harmsen
mesh_terms: D018441:Biofilms; D016967:Fusobacterium nucleatum / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D007831:Larynx, Artificial / Q000382:microbiology*; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal
keywords: anaerobic pathogens; biofilm architecture; confocal laser scanning microscopy; fluorescence in situ hybridization; periodontitis