Periodontopathogenic bacterial species among patients with periodontal diseases at Mulago Hospital Dental Clinic in Kampala, Uganda: A cross-section study

Periodontal diseases (PD) are disorders of the supporting structures of the teeth caused by components of the plaque that develop on the hard root surface adjacent to the soft tissues.Periodontal disease is caused by bacteria living in plaque biofilms.These bacteria also affect dental implants, causing peri-implantitis, and eventually implant failure.Early diagnosis and treatment to eliminate or significantly reduce these bacterial loads enables clinical success with dental implants.However, culture-based methods for detecting these bacteria are difficult to implement therefore making DNA-based techniques more efficient.WHO adds that at present, the distribution and severity of periodontal infections vary in different parts of the world and within the same region or country.In Uganda, data on prevalence of common bacteria species causing periodontal diseases is limited.The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of periodontopathogenic bacteria in patients attending Mulago Hospital Dental School Clinic.Paper point periodontal specimens were collected from 100 periodontal diseases patients.These specimens were directly tested for 11 selected periodontopathogenic bacteria using two molecular tests: Micro-IDent ® and Micro-IDent ® plus (HAIN Lifescience GmbH, Nehren, Germany).It was found that 86% of the studied participants were with periodontopathogenic bacteria species.Fusobacterium nucleatum, Porphyromonas gingivalis, Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans and Prevotella intermedia prevalence was 86, 7, 1 and 1%, respectively.Some patients had more than one periodontopathogenic bacteria detected.Average age and pocket depths of the study participants were 32 years and 3.5 mm, respectively.Age, pocket depth and gender were not statistically associated with any of the isolated periodontopathogenic bacteria species (p>0.05).