No association between A. actinomycetemcomitans or P. gingivalis and chronic or aggressive periodontitis diagnosis

A selection of abstracts of clinically relevant papers from other journals. The abstracts on this page have been chosen and edited by John R. Radford.

Abstract

Is there is a distinction between chronic periodontitis and aggressive periodontitis?

Main

Nibali L, D'Aiuto F et al. Quintessence Int 2012; 43: 247–254

Nested polymerase chain reaction was used to identify A. actinomycetemcomitans and P. gingivalis only, from subgingival microbiological samples. These were taken from the four deepest periodontal pockets in 267 consecutive patients with either chronic periodontitis or aggressive periodontitis. These periodontal diseases were categorised by 1) the age of patient, 2) family history, 3) probing depth measurements and 4) bone loss. There were no differences in the percentages of patients from whom these bacterial taxa were recovered. Nevertheless, based on these findings, it maybe be too simplistic to suggest that there is no distinction between chronic periodontitis and aggressive periodontitis. For example, in a recent review (Br Dent J 2012; 212: 601–606) it was stated that 'Organisms with different 'names' could carry out equivalent roles...'.