Microbial flora in chronic periodontitis: Study at a tertiary health care center from North Karnataka

Background and Objective: Periodontitis is a major public health problem in India with a prevalence of 60-80%. If untreated it acts as a risk factor for systemic diseases. Data on anaerobic periodontal microflora in the Indian population is very scarce. Hence, this study was undertaken to know the nature of oral microbiota in chronic periodontitis in this region of India and also the semiquantitative study in pre- and post-treatment group and to determine antibiotic susceptibility pattern for aerobic isolates. Materials and Methods: The present study was conducted on 60 cases. Material was collected from the subgingival pockets in patients with chronic periodontitis attending the Periodontology, Outpatient Department. Clinical samples were transported to the laboratory in fluid thioglycollate medium. Initially Gram's stain and Fontana stains were done. Aerobic, anaerobic, and microaerophilic culture were put up. Antibiotic sensitivity test was done for aerobic isolates. Results: Sixty samples yielded 121 isolates of which 78.34% were polymicrobial, 11.66% were monomicrobial and oral commensals were grown in 10% cases. Out of 121 isolates 91.74% were anaerobic, 7.43% were aerobic and 0.83% were microaerophilic. Fusobacterium species was the most common isolate among anaerobes. Using paired t -test P value was significant indicating significant reduction in colony count after phase-I periodontal therapy. Conclusion: This study has shown that anaerobic bacteria are important cause of chronic periodontitis, along with aerobes and microaerophilic organisms. Fusobacterium spp, Bacteroides fragilis, Porphyromonas spp and Prevotella intermedia are the most common anaerobic pathogens. Bacterial culture methods are still economical and gold standard.