Identification of Dominant Bacteria Isolated From Periodontal Abscesses

Aim: Various methods investigating the bacterial content causing periodontal abscesses have been applied in studies conducted until today. However, these studies have focused on periodontopathogens. Our study was carried out to research whether different pathogens other than the known periodontopathogens are present in periodontal abscess formation. Therefore, dominant bacterial samples obtained from the periodontal abscess content using the culture-dependent method were identified by 16S rDNA sequencing. Materials and Methods: Samples were obtained using a syringe or a periopaper from periodontal abscesses of 20 volunteers who met the research criteria. The three different bacterial colonies that were observed most intensely in each sample were selected and purified, and the isolates obtained were kept until the next characterization. Genomic DNA was isolated from each isolate; 16S rRNA genes were amplified by polymerase chain reaction and identified using DNA sequencing analyses. Results: As a result of culture-dependent methods, bacterial species belonging to Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, Neisseria, Actinomyces, Morococcus, Moraxella, and Enterococcus genera were isolated from a total of 60 bacterial isolates, three of which were the most densely growing colonies from each periodontal abscess sample. Conclusion: In our study, most of the bacterial species detected were identified for the first time in the bacterial content of periodontal abscesses. In some previously done studies, most of these bacteria species were shown to cause abscesses in different parts of the body. It was concluded that further studies are needed to determine the number and proportion of these bacteria species in total bacterial content to evaluate whether they cause periodontal abscesses.