The isolation and identification of Bacteroides spp. from the normal human gingival flora.

Gram-negative anaerobic bacilli were isolated on an enriched selective medium from specimens of subgingival plaque from 20 normal, healthy adults without periodontal disease. a heavy growth of Bacteroides and Fusobacterium spp. was obtained from all specimens and 10 representative colonies from each subject were selected for identification by conventional bacteriological methods. Results were obtained in these tests with 188 isolates; some strains of the B. melaninogenicus/oralis group would not grow in pure culture on solid media and showed satellitism in mixed culture, and some strains of fusobacteria did not survive repeated subculture. Most isolates (68%) belonged to the B. melaninogenicus/oralis group. The commonest species identified in this group were B. oralis (41%), B. melaninogenicus ss. melaninogenicus (26%) and ss. intermedius (17%). B. oralis was isolated from all subjects and at least one strain of B. melaninogenicus was isolated from 18 out of 20 subjects. Only eight strains of the B. fragilis group were detected and they probably represented transient carriage. Fusobacterium spp. and L. buccalis were isolated from 15 out of 20 subjects and accounted for 21% of the isolates studied, but most could not be identified specifically by the set of tests used. Asaccharolytic species of Bacteroides were isolated in small numbers from seven subjects.