Abstract
BACKGROUND: Atherosclerosis is known as one of the chronic diseases with high prevalence in the human species. Many studies have elucidated the relationship between this disease and chronic periodontitis caused by Porphyromonas gingivalis (P.g). The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of P.g fimbriae A (fimA) genotypes II and IV in patients with periodontitis and atherosclerosis. METHODS: This cross-sectional study investigated the frequency of P.g II and IV genotypes in the subgingival plaque specimens of 42 subjects in three experimental groups: periodontitis (A), atherosclerosis (B), periodontitis + atherosclerosis (C) and aortic wall specimens obtained from 30 patients (groups B and C) by the PCR technique. RESULTS: P.g bacterium was seen in 46.6% of patients with chronic periodontitis. The same bacterium was not found in aortic wall specimens of patients with chronic periodontitis (group C) and there was only one P.g-positive aortic wall specimen (7.7%) among the patients with healthy periodontium (group B). Genotypes II and IV were not observed in any specimen. CONCLUSION: The results of statistical analysis showed no significant correlation between the prevalence of P.g and genotypes II and IV in the subgingival plaques and the incidence and severity of atherosclerosis.