Detection rates of presumptive periodontal pathogens in subgingival plaque samples of untreated periodontitis using either four or six pooled samples

AIM: A comparison of the detection frequency and number of periodontal pathogens in patients with aggressive or generalized, severe chronic periodontitis using a gene-probe analysis. METHODS: In 16 aggressive and 34 generalized, severe chronic periodontitis patients, plaque was sampled from the deepest pockets per quadrant (MT4) and per sextant (MT6). After sampling two paper points simultaneously, one paper point from each pocket was pooled with three paper points of the other pockets (MT4). The remaining four paper points were pooled with two paper points from the deepest pockets from the two remaining sextants (MT6). Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, Tannerella forsythia, Porphyromonas gingivalis, and Treponema denticola were detected by 16S rRNA gene probes. RESULTS: Log-transformed counts for Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans were statistically significantly higher with MT6 (aggressive: 3.21±2.94; generalized, severe chronic: 2.22±2.70) than MT4 (aggressive: 2.04±2.74; generalized, severe chronic: 1.50±2.37) (P<0.05). The detection frequency and mean counts were high for Tannerella forsythia, Porphyromonas gingivalis, and Treponema denticola (>95%/>6.0). CONCLUSION: Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans was detected in higher numbers for MT6 than MT4. For both MT4 and MT6, Tannerella forsythia, Porphyromonas gingivalis, and Treponema denticola were detected in >95% of all patients and with mean log-transformed numbers >6.0.