Phenotypic and Molecular Diagnosis of Some Bacterial Species Isolated from Gingivitis from Patients in Al-Rifai District

Abstract

Gingivitis is an inflammatory, non-destructive disease mainly caused by microbial plaques. The study was proposed to explore bacterial agents causing gingivitis. Subjects were 100 patients suffering from periodontal infections as well as other dental problems who visited governmental health centers and outpatient clinics in Al-Rifai District during the period from September 2022 to March 2023. Initial characterization of the gingiva was done by examination to exclude periodontitis cases. Those diagnosed as gingivitis patients were 48 patients, comprised of 33 males and 15 females. Gingival specimens was done to proceed with identification, which was performed by cultural, microscopic, utilization of the Vitek compact system, and molecular characterization. 41 specimens gave positive culture on at least one of the used culture media, while 7 specimens showed no growth on any of those media. The positive growth cultures were either pure cultures (28) or mixed cultures (13), which were excluded from the study. The 28 pure cultures were submitted to the vitek-2 compact system. Relying on the latter, identification results showed a high frequency of species belonging to the Gram-negative bacilli. Where the highest percentage was of Enterobacter cloacae (six isolates) (21.43%%), the lowest percentage was one isolate (3.55%) for each of: Aeromonas veronii, Pantoea spp., Laclercia adecarboxylate, Klebsiella pneumonia, Acinetobacter lowifii, Pseudomonas species, Burkholderia gladioli, and Staphylococcus aureus as gram-positive bacteria, and six specimens (21.43%) were not identified. According to age groups, the highest number of infections was in the age group (41-60) with 20 infections. According to sex, the percentage of infections among males was higher 33 (68.75%) than females 15(31.25%).    The results of the present study showed an obvious variation in bacterial etiogens that were responsible for the destruction of gingiva among Al-Rifai District patients.