Biofilms-The Unforgiving Film in Dentistry (Clinical Endodontic Biofilms)

It is evident that oral microorganisms have the capacity to respond and adapt to changing environmental conditions. Individual microorganisms are able to sense and process the chemical information from the environment and thereby adjust their phenotypic properties. The term biofilm is used to indicate the presence of a film of condensed microorganisms on any surface. Bacterial condensations on the walls of infected root canals have been observed suggesting that mechanisms for biofilm formation also exist inside the root canal space. A mature biofilm is a metabolically active community of microorganisms where individuals share duties and benefits. A growing body of knowledge suggests that organisms in biofilms assume a stronger pathogenic potential than those in a planktonic state. From these aspects, the formation of biofilms carries particular clinical significance because not only host defense mechanisms, but also therapeutic efforts including chemical and mechanical anti-microbial treatment measures, have a most difficult task to deal with organisms that are gathered in a biofilm. Such bacterial aggregations have been thought to be the cause of therapy-resistant apical periodontitis. The aim of this communication is therefore to give an overview of the biofilm concept and to discuss how it may apply to endodontic infections. *Corresponding author: Aruna Kanaparthy, Reader, Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics, People’s Dental Academy, HIG-3, PDA Staff quarters, Peoples campus, Bhanpur, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India, Tel: 9165232031; E-mail: [email protected], [email protected] Received August 03, 2012; Accepted October 04, 2012; Published October 06, 2012 Citation: Kanaparthy A, Kanaparthy R (2012) Biofilms-The Unforgiving Film in Dentistry (Clinical Endodontic Biofilms). Dentistry 2:145. doi:10.4172/21611122.1000145 Copyright: © 2012 Kanaparthy A, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.