[Isolation of Helicobacter pylori in gastric mucosa, dental plaque and saliva in a population from the Venezuelan Andes].

Helicobacter pylori infection is common in people. However, the existence of extra gastric reservoirs and transmission routes remain controversial in the field. Because the oral cavity has been proposed as a reservoir for H. pylori, a study was carried out to determine the presence of H. pylori in dental plaque and saliva. The results were asociated with those obtained in the gastric biopsy. Ninety-seven dyspeptic and fifty asymptomatic patients were studied and samples taken for biopsy, dental plaque and saliva. The gastric biopsies were evaluated using microbiology and histology methods. Cultures and urease tests were carried out on the oral cavity samples and included pretreatment methods using urea and HCl. The frequency of H. pylori for all the patients evaluated was 75.5%. H. pylori was not isolated in saliva or dental plaque in any of the two groups studied with or without sample pretreatment. The urease test in dental plaque was positive in 99.3% of the patients and 89.8% in saliva. There was no statistically significant difference between the infection prevalence by H. pylori in dyspeptic or not dyspeptic patients. The obtained results suggest that the methodology used for the detection of H. pylori is not sufficiently sensitive for the determination of the microorganism in the oral cavity.