Brain abscess and periodontal pathogens (Fusobacterium Nucleatum). Report of a case

Potential infection foci in the oral cavity and their impact on the formation of central nervous system abscesses: A literature review

Despite advancements in preventive, diagnostic, and therapeutic activities in medicine, inflammatory processes of the central nervous system remain a significant problem, posing a serious threat to life and health. Purulent central nervous system infections are unique, including abscesses of the brain and spine, which are severe infections occurring in 0.4% to 0.9% of 1000 patients worldwide. Central nervous system abscesses have varying etiology. For example, organized, encapsulated abscesses of the brain are a unique group of inflammatory processes in the central nervous system caused by inflammation around the teeth in 3% to 10% of cases. Sometimes, the condition of patients with brain abscesses is severe and life-threatening. Therefore, detecting and eliminating all causes early, including those potentially resulting from odontogenic infections, is important; accurate and early diagnosis enables appropriate treatment. This paper presents a review of the information available in the literature on brain abscesses and their relationship with odontogenic foci of infection in the oral cavity.

Identification of Dominant Bacteria Isolated From Periodontal Abscesses

Aim:

Various methods investigating the bacterial content causing periodontal abscesses have been applied in studies conducted until today. However, these studies have focused on periodontopathogens. Our study was carried out to research whether different pathogens other than the known periodontopathogens are present in periodontal abscess formation. Therefore, dominant bacterial samples obtained from the periodontal abscess content using the culture-dependent method were identified by 16S rDNA sequencing.

Materials and Methods:

Samples were obtained using a syringe or a periopaper from periodontal abscesses of 20 volunteers who met the research criteria. The three different bacterial colonies that were observed most intensely in each sample were selected and purified, and the isolates obtained were kept until the next characterization. Genomic DNA was isolated from each isolate; 16S rRNA genes were amplified by polymerase chain reaction and identified using DNA sequencing analyses.

Results:

As a result of culture-dependent methods, bacterial species belonging to Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, Neisseria, Actinomyces, Morococcus, Moraxella, and Enterococcus genera were isolated from a total of 60 bacterial isolates, three of which were the most densely growing colonies from each periodontal abscess sample.

Conclusion:

In our study, most of the bacterial species detected were identified for the first time in the bacterial content of periodontal abscesses. In some previously done studies, most of these bacteria species were shown to cause abscesses in different parts of the body. It was concluded that further studies are needed to determine the number and proportion of these bacteria species in total bacterial content to evaluate whether they cause periodontal abscesses.