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Etiological Analysis of Initial Colonization of Periodontal Pathogens in Oral Cavity

Department of Dentistry, University of Taubate, Taubaté-SP, Brazil,¹ Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte-MG, Brazil,² Department of Immunology, The Forsyth Institute, Boston, Massachusetts³

Received 21 October 2007/ Returned for modification 8 December 2007/ Accepted 6 February 2008

It is unclear when the initial colonization by periodontal pathogens occurs in the oral cavity. Therefore, we report here the association between specific age groups and the time when the initial colonization by periodontal pathogens occurs in the oral cavity in such groups. Findings are based on an epidemiological analysis of the prevalence of five periodontal pathogens in the oral cavities of a wide range of age populations, from newborn to elderly, who were randomly selected in a geographic region of Brazil. These periodontal pathogens include Campylobacter rectus, Porphyromonas gingivalis, Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, Prevotella intermedia, and Tannerella forsythia and were analyzed in the bacterial samples isolated from gingival sulcus, the dorsum of the tongue, and cheek mucosa of diverse age groups, using a bacterial DNA-specific PCR method. Results indicated that there are distinct age-related groups where initial colonization by the five periodontal pathogens examined in this study can be detected and that the presence of teeth is a permissive factor for colonization by P. gingivalis, P. intermedia, and T. forsythia. Although it remains unclear exactly how or when target pathogens colonize healthy subjects, an understanding of age-related groups does provide a potentially useful tool in the early detection and prevention of periodontitis in healthy individuals.

Published ahead of print on 20 February 2008.