Staphylococci may indeed cause acute dental infections

doi:10.1136/bmj.325.7364.599

BMJ 2002;325:599 ( 14 September )

Letters

Staphylococci may indeed cause acute dental infections

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR $---$ In their letter Ribeiro and Cousin contend the likelihood of a causal relation between the development of an epiduralabscess after root canal treatment and the isolation of Staphylococcusaureus in the report by O'Rourke et al. ¹ ²

We disagree and support the original proposal of O'Rourke et al because recent studies using both molecular technology andconventional culture techniques indicate conclusively that Staphylococcusspp are not uncommon in dental root canal infections. ³ ⁴ Furthermore, in a stringent and comprehensive investigation thatwe are currently conducting on the microflora of endodonticallyinvolved teeth, staphylococci were isolated from root canals ineight out of 86 patients (unpublished data). Indeed in two cases,staphylococci were the sole and major isolate from the asepticallyopened, infected rootcanals.

We emphasise, however, that most endodontic infections are polymicrobial in nature. Using the polymerase chain reaction, Munsonet al recently found a mean of 17 taxa in . . . [Full text of this article]