Periodontal disease is driven by shifts in the subgingival microbiota, with Porphyromonas gingivalis, Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, Tannerella forsythia, Treponema denticola, Fusobacterium nucleatum, and Prevotella intermedia playing major roles. Modern molecular methods such as qPCR enable rapid, sensitive, and multiplex detection of these pathogens. Marin et al. (2017, 2023) and Coffey et al. (2016) highlighted the utility of qPCR in quantifying multiple species simultaneously, overcoming the limitations of culture-based methods.
Early acquisition of pathogens occurs in children, often linked to maternal microbiota. Takahashi et al., 2017, 2018, demonstrated colonization of P. gingivalis, A. actinomycetemcomitans, and P. intermedia in infants and young children, with implications for early preventive care.
Lifestyle factors worsen microbial and inflammatory profiles. Lages et al. (2015) reported higher P. intermedia, Eikenella corrodens, and F. nucleatum in alcohol-dependent patients, while Guglielmetti et al. (2014) and Soldati et al. (2022) linked smoking to elevated P. gingivalis, T. forsythia, and T. denticola alongside altered host defense peptides.
Rapid diagnostic tools, including point-of-care PCR (Gaertig et al., 2015; Ishii et al., 2015), and novel approaches like RNA-oligonucleotide quantification (Herrera et al., 2023) expand the ability to detect both classic and uncultivated pathogens such as Filifactor alocis. Non-surgical therapy reduces P. gingivalis, P. intermedia, and A. actinomycetemcomitans (Doungudomdacha et al., 2001), while adjunctive techniques like LANAP further enhance bacterial reduction (Bechir, 2023).
Together, these findings show that molecular detection of periodontal pathogens, including Prevotella intermedia, provides critical insights for diagnosis, risk assessment, and monitoring treatment response, paving the way for personalized management of periodontal disease.
References (For an extensive list of references- click here)
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Takahashi, K., Cunha, R. F. & Jardim, E. G. Periodontal pathogen colonization in young children by PCR quantification – a longitudinal survey. J. Clin. Pediatr. Dent. 41, 10.17796/1053-4628-41.6.7 (2017).
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