Characterization of Microbiota of Root Canal-Treated Teeth with Posttreatment Disease

Abstract

This study evaluated the microbiota of root canals undergoing retreatment. The most prevalent taxa detected by checkerboard included Propionibacterium species, Fusobacterium nucleatum , streptococci, and Pseudoramibacter alactolyticus . Quantitative real-time PCR detected Enterococcus faecalis and streptococci in 38% and 41% of the cases, comprising 9.76% and 65.78% of the total bacterial counts, respectively. The findings call into question the status of E. faecalis as the main pathogen and suggest that other species can be candidate pathogens associated with persistent/secondary endodontic infections.