Screening of periodontopathic bacteria in Italian patients affected by periodontitis

Periodontal disease (PD) is among the most common infectious diseases in the world, caused by pathogenic bacteria that trigger innate, inflammatory, and adaptive immune responses, leading to the destruction of supporting periodontal tissues and, if untreated, tooth loss. This study included 3593 patients, of them 1963 had a complete dataset and thus were analysed: 1088 (55%) were from Northern Italy, 749 (38%) from Central and 126 (7%) from Southern. Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, Porphyromonas gengivalis, Treponema denticola, and Tannerella forsythia, Campylobacter rectus, Fusobacterium nucleatum, and total bacterial load were investigated. There was a significant difference in geographic distribution as regard A. actinomycetemcomitans (p<0.001), C. rectus (p<0.001), F. nucleatum (p<0.001) and total bacterial load (p<0.001). No differences were detected as regard gender, whereas a significant higher F. nucleatum load was observed in younger patients.