Age and sex relationships of superinfecting microorganisms in periodontitis patients

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Abstract
The occurrence by age and sex of subgingival enteric rods and pseudomonads, yeasts, and staphylococci was studied in 3075 "refractory" periodontitis patients referred for microbiological analysis. Each subject contributed a pooled subgingival sample obtained from 3 deep periodontal pockets with paper points. Selective and nonselective media and commercial identification kit systems were used for microbial isolation and speciation. Females constituted about 60% of the study subjects, and almost one-third of all patients were in their forties. Females (47.3%) showed a higher prevalence of the study organisms than males (43.9%). Older females (15.9%) and males (15.3%) revealed significantly higher prevalences of enteric rods and pseudomonads than younger individuals (10.9%), and older infected females yielded significantly higher viable counts than younger infected females. The sexes demonstrated a similar prevalence of staphylococci (about 28%), but younger infected females and males showed significantly higher viable counts than older infected individuals. No sex or age relationships were found for yeasts (about 14% of individuals infected). The high level of subgingival enteric rods and pseudomonads in some individuals may be important in the pathogenesis of geriatric and other forms of periodontitis and may have therapeutic implications.