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Respiratory pathogens in dental plaque of hospitalized patients with chronic lung diseases

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Abstract

Bacterial cultivation studies have shown that dental plaque is a reservoir for respiratory pathogens in intensive care unit patients and in elderly who are debilitated, hospitalized or in a nursing home, placing them at risk of bacterial pneumonia. No information is available, however, concerning dental plaque as a reservoir of putative respiratory pathogens in hospitalized patients with chronic lung diseases. Supragingival plaque colonization of 34 hospitalized chronic lung-diseased Romanian citizens, excluding those with tuberculosis and less than 20 teeth, was therefore assessed by checkerboard DNA–DNA hybridization using a selected panel of whole genomic DNA probes produced from eight respiratory pathogens and eight oral pathogens. Thirty-one lung-healthy dental outpatients served as reference population. Respiratory pathogens were detected in plaque from 29 of the 34 (85.3%) hospitalized patients and 12 of the 31 (38.7%) reference population subjects. Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter baumannii, and Enterobacter cloacae occurred significantly (p<0.05) more frequent among the hospitalized patients. Hospitalized chronic lung-diseased patients harbored in their supragingival plaque samples bacteria known to cause nosocomial pneumonia significantly (p<0.001) more frequent than lung-healthy dental outpatients. Our results indicate that dental plaque in patients with chronic lung diseases often serves as a reservoir of bacteria known to cause nosocomial pneumonia in susceptible individuals.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the Faculty of Dentistry, University of Bergen, and the Norwegian State Loan Fund for Higher Education.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomy and Embryology, Faculty of Dental Medicine, University of Medicine and Pharmacy Carol Davila, Bucharest, Romania

    Andreea C. Didilescu

  2. Faculty of Dentistry, Department of Oral Sciences-Oral Microbiology, and Centre for International Health, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

    Nils Skaug

  3. Department of Pneumology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Medicine and Pharmacy Carol Davila, Bucharest, Romania

    Constantin Marica

  4. Institute of Pneumology Marius Nasta, Bucharest, Romania

    Cristian Didilescu

  5. Laboratory of Oral Microbiology, Armauer Hansens Building, 5021, Bergen, Norway

    Nils Skaug

Authors
  1. Andreea C. Didilescu
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  2. Nils Skaug
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  3. Constantin Marica
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  4. Cristian Didilescu
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Correspondence to Nils Skaug.

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Didilescu, A.C., Skaug, N., Marica, C. et al. Respiratory pathogens in dental plaque of hospitalized patients with chronic lung diseases. Clin Oral Invest 9, 141–147 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00784-005-0315-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00784-005-0315-6

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