Center for Oral Microbiology Testing
General Information

Welcome to the Oral Microbiology Testing Laboratory at the University of Southern California School of Dentistry. This site contains information on the contents of the OMTL KIT, instructions for obtaining, storing, and transporting samples, and guidance for interpretation of the Analysis Report. We recommend that you read the guidelines carefully and call us if you have questions about the service or material.

In recent years, the dental profession has witnessed promising developments in antimicrobial periodontal therapies that are safe, effective and acceptable to patients in terms of ease of application, supporting oral hygiene efforts and financial costs. The Center for Oral Microbiology Testing aids the clinician in selecting the most effective antimicrobial agent, or combination of agents, based on laboratory testing of samples obtained from a patient’s mouth. Center staff also assist in monitoring the effectiveness of periodontal treatment through subsequent analysis. Research at this center focuses on developing increasingly non-disruptive treatments to effectively control, and possibly cure, most types of periodontal disease.

Microbiology in Diagnostic Periodontics

Effective management of periodontal disease requires early diagnosis and appropriate therapeutic intervention. Unfortunately, actively destructive periodontitis and periodontitis in remission can be difficult to distinguish on purely clinical grounds. Therefore, some periodontitis patients may not receive the most optimal treatment.

Bacterial specificity in destructive periodontal disease forms the basis for using bacterial analysis to aid in treatment of periodontitis. Potential periodontal pathogens include:

• Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans
• Porphyromonas gingivalis
• Prevotella intermedia
• Tannerella forsythia
• some Fusobacterium species
• Campylobacter rectus
• Peptostreptococcus micros
• Beta hemolytic streptococci
• some enteric gram-negative rods
• some pseudomonas species
• some spirochetes

and a few other bacteria. Monitoring these bacteria may aid in distinguishing non-progressing and progressing periodontitis, in assessing treatment success or failure, and in selecting appropriate antimicrobial therapy.

Diagnostic microbiology may be integrated into periodontal therapy in the following order:

1. Conventional periodontal therapy (surgical or non-surgical)
    
2. Microbiology testing, approximately one month after completion of therapy.
   
   Detection of significant number of periodontal pathogens suggests the need for additional
   treatment. Options include repeated conventional therapy and/or appropriate systemic antibiotic therapy. Systemic antibiotic therapy in periodontics should be intense and short-term.
    
3. Approximately one month after retreatment, Microbiology testing should be performed to evaluate the efficacy of the treatment and patient compliance.