MICROBIOLOGICAL DIAGNOSIS IN PERIODONTICS

In to days periodontal practice microbial diagnosis has become a valuable tool. In chronic inflammatory multifactorial disorders associated with multiple pathogens clinical microbiology can be an useful tool to direct and evaluate periodontal treatment. It also assists in selection of antimicrobial therapies for selected patient groups, whereas it may also select patients that will not or minimally benefit from systemic antimicrobial treatment.. The emerging antibiotic resistance towards antibiotics among human pathogens dictates a restrictive and conservative use of systemic antibiotics in periodontics. One should keep in mind that overuse, misuse and poor compliance to an antimicrobial therapy are major risk factors for antibiotic resistance development in bacteria and other micro-organisms.
Both the anaerobic culture technique and the PCR-based test systems are suitable for microbial analysis of the subgingival plaque.