Taxonomic abundance in primary and secondary root canal infections

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

14 Scopus citations

Abstract

Aim: To evaluate the root canal microbiome composition in cases of primary and secondary apical periodontitis. Methodology: Thirty-nine samples from patients with primary root canal infections obtained before root canal treatment, and 40 samples obtained during root-end resection procedures from previously filled cases with apical periodontitis were evaluated using 16S rRNA next-generation sequencing analysis (NGS). Demographic and clinical factors included age, sex, infection type, percussion sensitivity, and presence of pain. Differences in abundances of genera were evaluated using Kruskal-Wallis test. Alpha and beta diversity indices were calculated using mothur. The Shannon and Chao1 indices were used to measure alpha diversity. The Bray–Curtis dissimilarity was used to measure beta diversity. Differences in community composition were evaluated using analysis of similarity (ANOSIM) with Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons. Results: Significantly fewer operational taxonomic units values were observed from samples from secondary infections (p <.0001). While no significant differences were observed in the Chao 1 index between primary and secondary infections, the Shannon alpha diversity was significantly lower in secondary relative to primary infections (p =.008). Among samples, sex, age (adult vs. older adult), percussion sensitivity, and presence of pain all showed no significant effects on community composition via an analysis of similarity (ANOSIM). However, community composition was significantly different depending on whether the sample was from a primary or secondary infection (R =.051, p =.03). Nine microbial genera comprised the predominant taxa observed among samples (>3.3%) and included Parvimonas, Fusobacterium, Campylobacter, Arachnia, Eubacterium, Prevotella, Peptostreptococcus, Fretibacterirum, and Pseudoramibacter. Significantly greater relative abundances of Prevotella, Peptostreptococcus, Veillonella, Lactucaseibacillus, and Dialister were observed in primary infections. Conclusions: Primary endodontic infections are more diverse than secondary infections. The microbial composition is not associated with the clinical manifestations of apical periodontitis.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)278-288
Number of pages11
JournalInternational Endodontic Journal
Volume56
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health Award Number UL1-TR002494 (UMN-CTSI). The first author would like to thank Dr Massimo Costalonga and Dr Stephen Niemczyk for providing constructive feedback and clinical advice.

Funding Information:
Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health Award Number UL1‐TR002494 (UMN‐CTSI). The first author would like to thank Dr Massimo Costalonga and Dr Stephen Niemczyk for providing constructive feedback and clinical advice.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors. International Endodontic Journal published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Endodontic Society.

Keywords

  • apical periodontitis
  • microbiome
  • next-generation sequencing

PubMed: MeSH publication types

  • Journal Article

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Taxonomic abundance in primary and secondary root canal infections'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this