Fast Facts - Perio Edition Episode 4
[Andrew Johnston, RDH]
Welcome back, everyone. You are listening to another episode of Fast Facts- Perio Edition brought to you by A Tale of Two Hygienists in partnership with DentistRX. And now, please welcome your host, Katrina Sanders.
[Katrina Sanders, RDH]
Hello and welcome to Fast Facts - Perio Edition. In this episode, we discuss green complex bacteria as established by Sokransky et al in their 1998 classification system. Of note, green associated complex bacteria are considered early colonizers.
They form the initial layer after the adherents of the acquired pellicle by means of fimbriae and therefore are readily available to adhere to the tooth structure instead of being flushed out via the gingival crevicular fluid.
One of these early colonizers is E. corrodens. E. Corrodens is commensal of the human mouth as well as the upper respiratory tract. While it's not usually a type of bacteria that will cause infection when cultured, some infections can occur with this green complex bacteria.
Most commonly we see infections of E. Corrodens notated in patients with cancers of the head and neck, as well as human bite infections. Another species commonly described as your green complex bacteria are your capnocytophaga series, these species are also part of the normal oral microflora, not only of humans, but also of animals.
These species are oftentimes considered opportunistic pathogens because of their ability to create additional infections, specifically in immunocompromised individuals.
One additional species discovered in 1993 and classified was the Campylobacter showae species.
This particular species was one of nine campylobacter like Strains isolated from human gingival crevicular fluid.
These gram negative straight rods were notated to be motile. Interestingly enough, green complex bacteria, although they may not specifically be pathogenic when it comes to periodontal disease, can absolutely contribute to other additional infections.
E. Corrodens, for example, does a beautiful job of mimicking anaerobic infections and can provide extremely foul smelling infections. E. Corrodens also is typically a result of poor oral hygiene and can provide the initial groundwork in the initial layers of periodontal infection.
Stay tuned as we move on to future episodes in discussing yellow, orange, red and pink complex bacteria.
This has been another episode of Fast Facts - Perio Edition with Katrina Sanders, RDH. Please feel free to reach me on Instagram @thedentalwinegenist or on my website www.KatrinaSanders.com Cheers.
[Andrew Johnston, RDH]
Thank you for listening to another episode of Fast Facts - Perio Edition, brought to you in part by DentistRX makers of the InteliSonic line of power brushes. Find out more by visiting their website at www.dentistrx.com. We'll see you next week for another Fast Fact!
