Quantification of key periodontal pathogens in insulin-dependent type 2 diabetic and non-diabetic patients with generalized chronic periodontitis

Abstract

Periodontitis is a common problem in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM), however, differences in the putative periodontal pathogens in subjects with DM compared to non-DM subjects are still inconclusive. The red complex, which includes Porphyromonas gingivalis, Treponema denticola, and Tannerella forsythia, encompasses the most important pathogens in adult periodontal disease. The aim of the present study was to compare cell numbers of P. gingivalis, T. denticola, T. forsythia and Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans in gingival sulcus of healthy, gingivitis and periodontitis sites of non-diabetes mellitus (NDM), controlled and poorly controlled insulin-dependent DM (CDM and PDM) patients with generalized chronic periodontitis. Subgingival plaque samples were collected from 19 CDM, 19 PDM and 19 NDM patients. Taqman real time-PCR was used to determine bacterial cell number. At subject level, the quantity of red complex bacteria was significantly higher in PDM than those of NDM and positively correlated with HbA1c. At site level (total 342 sites), cell numbers of T. denticola and T. forsythia in healthy sites of CDM and PDM were significantly higher than those of NDM. In gingivitis sites, the numbers of P. gingivalis in CDM and PDM and T. forsythia in PDM were significantly higher than those of NDM while in periodontitis sites, higher quantity of P. gingivalis in PDM was observed. Our study indicated that poor glycemic control is associated with increasing cell numbers of red complex bacteria in subgingival biofilm.

Keywords: Periodontitis; Periodontopathic bacteria; Real time-PCR; Type 2 diabetes mellitus.