The Utility of Whole Saliva to Detect the Oral Presence of Periodontopathic Bacteria

TLDR

The study compared 6 periodontopathic bacteria in whole saliva and pooled subgingival plaque from 202 subjects using 16S rRNA‑based PCR. Whole saliva more frequently detected P. gingivalis, P.

Abstract

T his study compared the presence of 6 periodontopathic bacteria in whole saliva and subgingival plaque of 202 subjects. The test bacteria were identified using a 16S rRNA‐based PCR detection method. Each study subject contributed a whole saliva sample and a paper point sample pooled from the deepest periodontal pocket in each quadrant of the dentition. The kappa test revealed a fair agreement between the presence of Porphyromonas gingivalis, Prevotella intermedia , and Treponema denticola in whole saliva and periodontal pocket samples (kappa > 0.4). The McNemar test showed that the differences between sample types were due to a more frequent detection of the 3 organisms in whole saliva than in periodontal pocket samples ( P < 0.01). Prevotella nigrescens also was detected more frequently in whole saliva than in periodontal pocket samples ( P < 0.01; McNemar test). Although little agreement between samples was found for Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans and Bacteroides forsythus (kappa ≤ 0.4), neither whole saliva nor pocket samples showed better detection for these 2 species ( P < 0.01, McNemar test). The results indicate that whole saliva is superior to pooled periodontal pocket samples to detect P. gingivalis, P. intermedia, P. nigrescens , and T. denticola in the oral cavity. The detection of oral A. actinomycetemcomitans and B. forsythus with reasonably good accuracy may require both whole saliva and periodontal pocket samples. J Periodontol 1998;69:828–833 .