| pubmed-article:2659815 | pubmed:abstractText | The purpose of this study was to determine correlations between various clinical assessments of inflammatory periodontal disease and the proportion of bacterial morphotypes in the subgingival flora of sites representing widely varying states of periodontal disease. Phase-contrast microscopy was used to determine the proportion of varying bacterial morphotypes at 154 sites. For each site the following clinical assessments were recorded: gingival index, probing depth, plaque index and calculus index. Statistically significant (p less than 0.01) positive correlations were found between gingival index and spirochetes or motile rods, and between probing depth and spirochetes. Significant negative correlations were found between gingival index and coccoid cells, and between probing depth and coccoid cells or rods. The significant increase in the proportion of spirochetes or motile bacteria occurred when bleeding upon probing was observed. The ratio of motile to non-motile cells at advanced disease sites was in the vicinity of 1:1. The data obtain in this study may be useful in monitoring the effects of various treatment modalities on the periodontal flora and may be helpful in determining the presence or absence of active disease. | lld:pubmed |
