Patients with type 2 diabetes and severe periodontitis harbor a less pathogenic subgingival biofilm than normoglycemic individuals with severe periodontitis

• Published in: Journal of periodontology (1970) 2023-10, Vol.94 (10), p.1210-1219
• Main Authors: Duarte, Poliana M, Felix, Edcarlos, Santos, Vanessa R, Figueiredo, Luciene C, da Silva, Hélio D P, Mendes, Juliana A V, Feres, Magda, Miranda, Tamires S
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0022-3492; 1943-3670
• DOI: 10.1002/JPER.22-0657

Whether, and to what extent, diabetes mellitus (DM) can affect the subgingival biofilm composition remains controversial. Thus, the aim of this study was to compare the composition of the subgingival microbiota of non-diabetic and type 2 diabetic patients with periodontitis using 40 "biomarker bacterial species." Biofilm samples of shallow (probing depth [PD] and clinical attachment level [CAL] ≤3 mm without bleeding) and deep sites (PD and CAL ≥5 mm with bleeding) of patients with or without type 2 DM were evaluated for levels/proportions of 40 bacterial species by checkerboard DNA-DNA hybridization. A total of 828 subgingival biofilm samples from 207 patients with periodontitis (118 normoglycemic and 89 with type 2 DM) were analyzed. The levels of most of the bacterial species evaluated were reduced in the diabetic compared with the normoglycemic group, both in shallow and in deep sites. The shallow and deep sites of patients with type 2 DM presented higher proportions of Actinomyces species, purple and green complexes, and lower proportions of red complex pathogens than those of normoglycemic patients (P