[Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans on oral mucosa].

The present study was carried out to delineate the parameters influencing the extracerevicular oral colonization of Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans. Numbers of cultivable A. actinomycetemcomitans in subgingival plaque samples, saliva, and samples from buccal and tongue mucosae were determined in 33 patients with A. actinomycetemcomitans-associated periodontitis. Subgingival samples from patients with localized juvenile periodontitis (LJP) had significantly higher levels of A. actinomycetemcomitans than samples obtained in non-LJP patients (740,000 vs. 59,000, median, p less than 0.05). Samples from buccal mucosae and saliva were infected with A. actinomycetemcomitans in 85 vs. 70%, and 77 vs. 65%, respectively. Multiple regression analysis of log 10-transformed counts of A. actinomycetemcomitans in samples from cheek as dependent variable yielded a significant influence of numbers of deep periodontal pockets and diagnosis. The occurrence of A. actionomycetemcomitans on buccal mucosa seems to reflect the overall subgingival load with the organism.