Identificação e quantificação de bactérias em dentes decíduos com necrose pulpar por meio da técnica da Hibridização in Situ Fluorescente (FISH)

Abstract

Different microbial identification methods have shown that the microbial community in endodontic infections presents a great diversity. However, the knowledge of the microbial profiles of endodontic infections in primary teeth is still limited. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate, qualitative and quantitatively, the presence of oral microorganisms in samples from root canals primary teeth, to assess the correlations among them, and to determine their association with clinical and radiographic signs and symptoms. A total of 31 children, 4 to 10 years old (mean age = 6.29 ± 1.27 years old), was involved in this study. The presence of 12 selected pathogens (Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans, Campylobacter rectus, Enterococcus faecalis, Fusobacterium nucleatum, Porphyromonas gingivalis, Prevotella intermedia, Prevotella nigrescens, Streptococcus, Streptococcus mutans, Streptococcus sobrinus, Tannerella forsythia, and Treponema denticola) in 31 infected root canals from 31 primary teeth with pulp necrosis was studied by using the fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) technique which identified and quantified the microorganisms. Descriptive measures were used to present the data related to the density (cel/mL X 108) for each microorganism tested. The Pearson correlation test assessed the correlation among the microorganisms identified and the Student t test assessed the association between the clinical and radiographic signs and symptoms and the pathogens detected. The significance level was set at 5% (p < 0.05). All the tested pathogens were detected in all samples. The total sum of the mean densities of all the bacteria species and Streptococcus genus represented 80.57% of the entire microbial community. The results of Student's t test showed that there was a significant difference (p = 0.02) between the average number of densities observed in the species T. denticola in the group with pain and the group with no pain. Significant differences were also observed in the average number densities of the species P. nigrescens and presence of edema and P. nigrescens and no edema; and for Streptococcus and genus Streptococcus and edema and no edema (p = 0.04, p = 0.04, respectively). The FISH technique confirmed the polymicrobial characteristic of the endodontic infection in primary teeth with the presence of obligate and facultative anaerobic bacteria and of Streptococcus genus.