Bacteriology of human experimental gingivitis: effect of plaque age

Twenty-five subjects with previously excellent hygiene and healthy gingiva developed heavy plaque accumulations and bleeding or nonbleeding gingivitis about certain papilla after 21 days of no oral hygiene. Gingival marginal plaque about a single papilla was collected at 0, 1, 2, and 3 weeks of no oral hygiene in each subject. The plaque was dispersed, serially diluted, and plated on MM10 sucrose agar in an oxygen-free atmosphere. From 50 to 100 colonies from a single high-dilution plate were characterized for each sample. Over 8,500 isolates were partially characterized and placed into one of 29 taxonomic species or groups. The flora was predominantly gram-positive at all time periods. Streptococcal species dominated in the 0- and 1-week-old plaques, i.e. 62 and 43% of the colonyforming units (CFU), but dropped to 26 to 32% of the CFU in the 2- and 3-week-old plaques. Actinomyces species dominated in the older plaques, i.e., 40 to 50% of the CFU. Actinomyces israelii was the most prominent species in the older plaques. Veillonella accounted for 15 to 20% of the CFU at all time periods. Although the other gram-negative species increased with time, collectively they averaged less than 5% of the CFU at week 3. The shift from a Streptococcus-dominated plaque to an Actinomyces-dominated plaque was the most striking microbial change observed as the plaque aged.