Introduction to Porphyromonas gingivalis (P. gingivalis) P. gingivalis is a Gram-negative, anaerobic, non-motile, asaccharolytic and black pigmented rod that form greenish-black colonies on blood agar plates 137. It is one of the major pathogens of chronic periodontitis 138, 139. This microorganism has been included in the red complex, which is strongly associated with periodontal destruction.…
Read MoreIntroduction to Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans This bacterium was first isolated by Klinger 81 from a cervicofacial actinomycotic lesion in 1912 and was named Bacterium actinomycetemcomitans. Topley and Wilson (1929) 82 reclassified it as Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans and Potts et al. (1985) 83 as Haemophilus actinomycetemcomitans. In 2006 it was again reclassified based on multilocus sequence analysis by…
Read MoreIntroduction to microbial etiology of periodontal diseases The research on the microbiology of periodontal health and diseases has been the focus of intense investigation for several decades. Microbial biofilm in the gingival sulcus around teeth is the most important cause of periodontal diseases. It is a structured community of bacterial cells enclosed in a self-produced…
Read MoreIntroduction to periodontal disease progression There has been a lot of research to understand the exact nature of periodontal diseases. Various researchers have tried to understand the rate of diseases progression in various forms of periodontitis. In the past, several patterns of disease progression have been described 135-138. The patterns of tissue destruction in the…
Read MoreIntroduction to the host-microbial interactions in periodontal diseases The microbial biofilm that forms around the teeth is the main cause of periodontal disease initiation and progression. This biofilm is a complex community of microorganisms which produces various virulence factors that initiate the inflammatory response. The enzymes released by bacteria in the biofilm include proteases that…
Read MoreIntroduction to probiotic therapy The oral cavity is a natural habitat for more than 700 bacterial species. Most of these bacterial species are commensals, that is, they are associated with health. Remaining bacterial species are pathogenic and are responsible for causing various oral health problems including periodontal diseases. These bacterial species are not randomly distributed…
Read MoreIntroduction to dental calculus Although, dental plaque is considered as the primary etiological factor in the development of periodontal diseases; the presence of dental calculus is also of great concern to the clinicians because it facilitates plaque formation by providing the surface for its formation and keeps it in close contact with the gingival tissue.…
Read MoreIntroduction to dental plaque Dental plaque is a complex community of micro-organisms that forms on the surfaces of teeth and restorations and has been implicated as the primary etiological factor in the development of periodontal diseases 1, 2. So far, more than 700 different bacterial species have been identified from the human oral cavity, and…
Read MoreIntroduction to the effects of aging on the periodontium Aging effects all the organ systems in the body and oral tissues are no exception to it. Due to widespread awareness regarding oral health, there has been an improvement in the oral health status of the general population worldwide. However, the process of aging is a…
Read MoreIntroduction to the complement system Term ‘complement’ means to augment the effect of other components of the immune system. The complement system is a group of more than 23 proteins that interact with each other to opsonize the pathogen and induce a series of inflammatory responses that help to generate an immune response against that…
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