Clinical and Microbiological Characterization of Patients with Generalized Aggressive Periodontitis Caracterización Clínica y Microbiológica de Pacientes con Periodontitis Agresiva Generalizada

Aggressive periodontitis embraces a cluster of promptly advancing forms of periodontal disease that appear in otherwise clinically healthy patients. The objective of this investigation was to characterize clinical and microbiologically a sample of Colombian patients with Generalized Aggressive Periodontitis (GAgP). In this cross sectional study, 40 subjects ≤30 years with GAgP who attended the dental clinics of the Universidad de Antioquia in Medellín, Colombia were invited to participate from February 2012 to August 2013. Microbial sampling on periodontitis patients was performed on pockets ≥5 mm. The deepest six pockets were selected for sampling. The samples were analyzed using microbial culture techniques. Porphyromonas gingivalis and Prevotella spp. were both detected at high levels. In bivariate analysis a strong association between the periodontal parameters and presence of all microorganisms studied was observed (P<0.0001). Similarly, the logistic regression analysis showed a significant association among periodontopathogens. The most relevant was observed between P. gingivalis and Tanerella forsythia (OR=4.8). A high proportion of sites ≥6mm (869 sites; 49.95%) was observed. In conclusion, P. gingivalis was more intensely related with aggressive periodontal disease, while the occurrence of Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans was lower than that of P. gingivalis.