BACKGROUND

The purpose of this study was to compare 12-month clinical responses to mechanical periodontal treatment in Chinese chronic periodontitis patients at sites with and without Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans at baseline, and to investigate the ability of mechanical periodontal treatment to eliminate A. actinomycetemcomitans.

METHODS

Nineteen patients and a total of 76 selected sites with a mean probing depth (PD) of > or = 7 mm were studied. Whole mouth presence or absence of supragingival plaque (PI%), bleeding on probing (BOP%), probing depth (PD), and probing attachment level (PAL) were recorded at six sites per tooth at baseline and after 3, 9, and 12 months. Baseline subgingival plaque samples were taken from the deepest PD site in each quadrant using sterile paper points and were cultured on TSBV plates for 5 days in a 5% CO2-air incubator. All sites received mechanical periodontal treatment, which included oral hygiene instructions and supragingival and subgingival instrumentation with or without surgical access, with maintenance care being provided once every 3 months thereafter.

RESULTS

At baseline, A. actinomycetemcomitans was isolated in 13 of the 19 subjects (68%) and in 29 out of the 76 sampled sites (38%). At the end of 12 months, in three of the initially A. actinomycetemcomitans-positive subjects, A. actinomycetemcomitans was not detected in the sampled sites, while one subject, in whom A. actinomycetemcomitans was not initially found at the sampled sites was A. actinomycetemcomitans-positive at 12 months. Multi-level variance component models showed there was no statistically significant difference in all clinical parameters between A. actinomycetemcomitans-positive and -negative subjects (P > 0.05). In the sampled sites of the initially A. actinomycetemcomitans-positive subjects, the mean PD was reduced from 7.6 +/- 1.6 mm to 3.2 +/- 1.8 mm, the mean PAL gain was 1.4 +/- 2.0 mm, and the mean recession was 3.0 +/- 2.3 mm. The corresponding figures in the sampled sites of the initially A. actinomycetemcomitans-negative subjects were 7.5 +/- 1.6 mm to 2.7 +/- 1.0 mm, 2.3 +/- 2.6 mm and 2.4 +/- 2.2 mm for mean PD changes, PAL gain, and mean recession, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Favorable clinical responses to mechanical periodontal therapy may occur in Chinese chronic periodontitis patients at sites infected with A. actinomycetemcomitans. The mere detection of subgignival A. actinomycetemcomitans does not necessarily imply poorer treatment outcomes in the control of chronic periodontitis.