Frequency of periodontal pathogens in equivalent peri-implant and periodontal clinical statuses.

OBJECTIVES: This study tested the hypotheses that there is: (1) higher bacterial frequency in peri-implantitis/periodontitis, followed by mucositis/gingivitis and peri-implant/periodontal health; (2) similar bacterial frequency between comparable peri-implant and periodontal clinical statuses.

DESIGN OF STUDY: The presence of Porphyromonas gingivalis, Tannerella forsythia, Campylobacter rectus, Prevotella intermedia, Treponema denticola and Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans was evaluated in peri-implant (n=53) and periodontal (n=53) health; mucositis (n=50), gingivitis (n=50), peri-implantitis (n=50) and periodontitis (n=50).

RESULTS: The pattern of peri-implant bacterial frequency was not as expected (peri-implantitis>mucositis>health). Except for P. intermedia (p>0.05), bacterial frequency was higher in peri-implantitis than health (p<0.05). The frequency of P.gingivalis and red complex species were higher in peri-implantitis than mucositis (p<0.05). In periodontal samples, T. forsythia and T. denticola showed the expected pattern of frequency (periodontitis>gingivitis>health). The frequencies of C. rectus and T. forsythia were higher in healthy teeth/gingivitis than healthy implants/mucositis, respectively (p<0.05). The frequency of P. gingivalis and A. actinomycetemcomitans were similar between periodontitis and peri-implantitis (p>0.05) while all other species occurrences were higher in periodontitis than peri-implantitis (p<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS: Bacterial frequency increased from peri-implant/periodontal health to peri-implantitis/periodontitis but not from mucositis/gingivitis to peri-implantitis/periodontitis. There was a trend towards higher bacterial frequency in teeth than implants.