Quantitative PCR studies of Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans and Treponema denticola/Tanerella forsythensis Complex as Etiological Factors of Chronic Periodontitis

Abstract

Real-time quantitative PCR (Dentofl or kit) was used to detect DNA of periodontal pathogens in specimens from 92 patients with chronic periodontitis and from a control sample of 12 normal subjects. A bimodal distribution of patients by periodontium colonization with A. actinomycetemcomitans, P. gingivalis, P. intermedia, T. forsythensis, and T. denticola was demonstrated. A new approach to interpretation of the results of quantitative evaluation of periodontal pathogens, including the notion of pathological colonization level, led to classification of all cases with chronic generalized periodontitis into 3 groups: associated with A. actinomycetemcomitans, with T. forsythensis/T. denticola complex, and cases of uncertain genesis.

Keywords: Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans; Dentoflor; Tanerella forsythensis; Treponema denticola; periodontitis.