ABSTRACT

Prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of most frequent pathogens isolated from patients treated with juvenile periodontitis at three separate dental centres in Jamaica from 1989 to 2003 were studied. Swabs were taken from these patients periodontal pathologic pocket or root of most of their teeth with active disease processes. These swabs were processed at the microbiology department of the University Hospital of the West Indies Kingston, Jamaica and the Microbiology laboratory, School of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago. The identification of the micro-organisms from positive cultures and their antimicrobial susceptibility profile were performed using standard microbiological procedures and dick diffusion (Kirby-Bauer) methods. Over 80% of the patients were females. The most frequent micro-organisms isolated were Enterobacter (40.5%), followed by Klebsiella species (19%) and Acinetobacter species (10.8%). Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans, a widely known key pathogen in juvenile periodontal diseases was encountered only in 5.4% (2/37) of the cases in this study. The most frequent organism isolated were still highly susceptibility to the commonly used and available antimicrobials such as amoxycillin/clavulanate,trimethoprim/sulphamethoxazole, chloramphenicol and aminoglycosides.
The most frequent pathogens encountered in this study were totally different from what obtains in other places. There is the need to be aware of microbes in other countries during the microbiology investigations of juvenile periodontitis and that the antimicrobial chemotherapy should always be based on susceptibility test results. Surgical treatment for mechanical debridement of the site and bone grafting with guided tissue regeneration should be mandatory in conjunction with specific antimicrobial chemotherapy.