Subgingival microbial profile of obese women with periodontal disease

BACKGROUND This study compared the composition of subgingival microbiota between obese and non-obese women with or without periodontal disease. METHODS Full-mouth periodontal clinical assessments were carried out in 76 obese women (17 periodontally healthy and 59 with periodontal disease), and 34 non-obese women (12 periodontally healthy, 22 with periodontal disease). Subgingival biofilm samples were individually obtained from seven sites of each individual, and the prevalence and counts of 40 bacterial taxa were determined by the checkerboard method. The frequency and counts of each species were computed for each individual and across the groups. Differences among and between groups were sought by the Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests, respectively. Possible correlations between obesity and clinical and microbiologic parameters were tested with Spearman correlation coefficient. RESULTS Streptococcus sanguinis, Streptococcus oralis, and Capnocytophaga ochracea were found in significantly higher levels in obese compared with non-obese women (P