Abstract

Culture has always been recognized as the gold standard for detecting oral anaerobes in dental plaque samples. However, many of the bacterial morphotypes observed by microscopy are difficult to culture, thus necessitating the need for alternative methods of detection. The objective of this study was to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of BANA (N-benzoyl-DL-arginine-B-naphthylamide) and PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) as reliable detection methods for detecting oral anaerobes such as Porphyromonas gingivalis,Tannerella forsythia and Treponema denticola (often referred to as the “red complex”) in subgingival dental plaque. Of the 372 samples analysed, 7.25% tested positive for the BANA test and 36.29% yielded a positive PCR test. This study showed that PCR was more sensitive than BANA in detecting members of the “red complex” in plaque samples.

Key words: Polymerase chain reaction (PCR), N-benzoyl-DL-arginine-B-naphthylamide (BANA), red complex, subgingival plaque, periodontal disease.