Periodontal pathogenic bacteria among high school children in Saudi Arabia

BACKGROUND: The periodontal tissues are continuously exposed to specific bacterial components that have the ability to alter many local functions. Normal endogenous infections in healthy mouths cause disease when their numbers increase significantly. OBJECTIVE: Determine the percentage of different periodontal pathogenic bacteria and their association with periodontal status. DESIGN: Cross-sectional, analytical. SETTINGS: School children of both genders in Saudi Arabia. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Clinical examination consisted of measurement of the gingival and periodontal supporting tissue including attachment loss, probing pocket depth and furcation involvement following the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and taking samples of the subgingival bacterial flora. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The percentage of periodontal pathogenic bacteria and its association with periodontal status in Saudi Arabia. SAMPLE SIZE: Bacterial samples were collected from 277 subjects. RESULTS: Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans was present in 21.7% of the subjects, Porphyromonas gingivalis in 21.3%; Tannerella forsythia in 10.1%; Treponema denticola in 34.7% and Prevotella inter-media in 12.3%. The red complex bacteria were found in 2.9% of the subjects. CONCLUSIONS: The percentages of bacteria varied but only T denticola was significantly associated with periodontal breakdown. In addition, the presence of more than 2 of the 5 species tested were significantly associated with tissue damage. LIMITATIONS: Cannot be generalized to all of Saudi Arabia. Larger controlled studies are needed. CONFLICT OF INTEREST: None.