A comparison of the prevalence of respiratory pathogens and opportunistic respiratory pathogenic profile of 'clean' and 'unclean' removable dental prostheses.

OBJECTIVES: To determine and compare the opportunistic respiratory pathogenic index (ORPI) and prevalence of respiratory pathogens between clean and unclean removable prostheses.

METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 97 removable prosthesis wearers at a teaching dental hospital. Participants' prosthesis hygiene was grouped into clean and unclean. After prosthesis plaque samples were sequenced using the Type IIB Restriction-site Associated DNA Sequencing for Microbiome method, the prevalence was assessed for the presence of respiratory pathogens on each sample. The ORPIs for clean and unclean prostheses were quantified based on the sum of the relative abundance of respiratory pathogenic bacteria in a microbiome using a reference database that contains opportunistic respiratory pathogens and disease-associated information.

RESULTS: A total of 30 opportunistic respiratory pathogens were identified on the removable prostheses. Eighty-one (83.5%) removable prostheses harboured respiratory pathogenic bacteria. Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (34.0%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (27.8%), and Streptococcus agalactiae (27.8%) were the top three prevalent respiratory pathogens detected in plaque samples. There was a significantly higher prevalence of respiratory pathogens residing on unclean than clean prostheses (P = 0.046). However, the ORPIs in both groups showed no statistically significant difference (P = 0.516).

CONCLUSIONS: The ORPIs for both clean and unclean prostheses demonstrated a similar abundance of respiratory pathogens. However, the high prevalence of respiratory pathogens residing on unclean prostheses should not be underestimated. Therefore, maintaining good prosthesis hygiene is still important for overall oral and systemic health, even though the direct link between prosthesis cleanliness and reduced abundance of respiratory pathogens has not been established.

CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: The association between the prevalence of respiratory pathogens and unclean removable prostheses has been demonstrated and might increase the theoretical risk of respiratory disease development.