Prevalence of Selenomonas noxia among Pediatric and Adult Orthodontic Patients

Pediatric patients face many challenges to oral and periodontal health, including the placement of fixed orthodontic appliances during adolescence. One of the more recently identified periodontal pathogens is the organism Selenomonas noxia or S. noxia.

Objectives: Due to the paucity of evidence regarding the oral prevalence of S. noxia and the lack of evidence regarding the prevalence among pediatric orthodontic patients, the main objective of this project was to evaluate the oral prevalence in a dental school setting.

Methods: Using an existing saliva repository, twenty five (n=25) orthodontic saliva samples were selected from patients between the ages of 13 – 24 with twenty five (n=25) age-matched non-orthodontic saliva samples. DNA isolation was performed and screened with primers specific for S. noxia. Chi square analysis of demographic groups was performed and descriptive statistics of all results was reported.

Results: Screening of each DNA derived from each saliva sample for S. noxia revealed the presence of this pathogen in a subset of the study population. More specifically, the majority of samples screened (60% or n=30/50) did not harbor DNA for this organism. Most of the S. noxia-positive samples were derived from adults (65% or n=13/20) with more females (60%) than males, which were nearly equally divided among Orthodontic and non-Orthodontic patients.

Conclusions: This study provides novel information regarding the oral prevalence of S. noxia among both pediatric and young adult populations, with and without orthodontic brackets. These findings demonstrate that higher percentages of adults than pediatric patients harbor this organism, which does not appear strongly correlated with orthodontic treatment. These data add to the growing body of evidence that may suggest the presence of this organism may be associated with many additional factors that influence oral health and disease.