Periodontal microbiology in Latin America

This review article describes the microbiota associated with periodontal disease in Latin America. This vast territory includes 22 nations, which show great ethnic diversity, with large groups of White people, Black people, Mestizo people and Native people. Widespread poverty and limited access to education and health-care services, including periodontal care, are prominent predisposing factors for destructive periodontal disease in Latin America. Black people and Mestizo people seem to have particularly severe periodontal disease and are frequently colonized by the major periodontal pathogens Porphyromonas gingivalis and Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans. The 'red complex' bacterial pathogens and A. actinomycetemcomitans predominate in chronic and aggressive periodontitis, but gram-negative enteric rods and herpesviruses can also play important periodontopathic roles in Latin America. The key to minimizing the risk of periodontal disease is control of the pathogens, and new low-cost periodontal treatments deserve serious consideration in Latin America.