AUTHOR=Wang Bing-Yan , Burgardt Grayson , Parthasarathy Kavitha , Ho Daniel K. , Weltman Robin L. , Tribble Gena D. , Hong Jianming , Cron Stanley , Xie Hua 

TITLE=Influences of race/ethnicity in periodontal treatment response and bacterial distribution, a cohort pilot study

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Oral Health

VOLUME=4

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/oral-health/articles/10.3389/froh.2023.1212728

DOI=10.3389/froh.2023.1212728

ISSN=2673-4842

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Objectives</title><p>Periodontitis disproportionately affects different racial and ethnic populations. We have previously reported the higher levels of <italic>Porphyromonas gingivalis</italic> and lower ratios of <italic>Streptococcus cristatus</italic> to <italic>P. gingivalis</italic> may contribute to periodontal health disparities. This prospective cohort study was designed to investigate if ethnic/racial groups responded differently to non-surgical periodontal treatment and if the treatment outcomes correlated to the bacterial distribution in patients with periodontitis before treatment.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>This prospective cohort pilot study was carried out in an academic setting, at the School of Dentistry, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. Dental plaque was collected from a total of 75 African Americans, Caucasians and Hispanics periodontitis patients in a 3-year period. Quantitation of <italic>P. gingivalis</italic> and <italic>S. cristatus</italic> was carried out using qPCR. Clinical parameters including probing depths and clinical attachment levels were determined before and after nonsurgical treatment. Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA, the Kruskal–Wallis test, the paired samples <italic>t</italic>-test and the chi-square test.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>The gains in clinical attachment levels after treatment significantly differed amongst the 3 groups–Caucasians responded most favorably, followed by African-Americans, lastly Hispanics, while numbers of <italic>P. gingivalis</italic> were highest in Hispanics, followed by African-Americans, and lowest in Caucasians (<italic>p </italic>= 0.015). However, no statistical differences were found in the numbers of <italic>S. cristatus</italic> amongst the 3 groups.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>Differential response to nonsurgical periodontal treatment and distribution of <italic>P. gingivalis</italic> are present in different ethnic/racial groups with periodontitis.</p></sec>