Detection of periodontal pathogens in newborns and children with mixed dentition

We report the age-related prevalence of red complex periodontal pathogens, , , and , along with four strains of orange complex pathogens. The bacteria present in samples isolated from tongue, cheek, and subgingival sulcus in edentulous newborns and children with mixed dentition were monitored by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). was not detected in any site of any subject in the two groups tested. However, was not only found in the 6-13 years age group, but also in edentulous newborns at a relatively high prevalence, indicating non-dentition-related colonization by . , , , , and were found in the oral cavity of most subjects belonging to the 6-13 years age group compared to newborns. This suggested a pronounced association between these colonizing bacteria and the presence of teeth. There was also a strong relation between and for their prevalence in the subgingival sulcus of the 6-13 years age group ( < 0.0001), but not in the other sites tested, suggesting that the colonization of dentition-related may be associated with the increased prevalence of non-dentition-related in the subgingival sulcus. Overall, these results suggest that dentition is a key determinant of bacterial colonization, especially orange complex bacteria and the red complex bacterium .