Bacterial profiles and proteolytic activity in peri-implantitis versus healthy sites

• The microbial composition differed significantly between subjects within both the peri-implantitis and the healthy group.
• The prevalence of Porphyromonas/Prevotella and anaerobic Gram positive cocci was significantly higher in the group of subjects with peri-implantitis than the healthy subject group.
• The mean protease activity was higher in the peri-implantitis group.
• High protease activity as well as proteolytic bacterial phenotypes may be a predictive factor for disease progression.

Peri-implantitis is a biofilm-induced destructive inflammatory process that, over time, results in loss of supporting bone around an osseointegrated dental implant. Biofilms at peri-implantitis sites have been reported to be dominated by Gram-negative anaerobic rods with a proteolytic metabolism such as, Fusobacterium, Porphyromonas, Prevotella and Tannerella, as well as anaerobic Gram-positive cocci. In this study, we hypothesized that protease activity is instrumental in driving bone destruction and we therefore compared the microbial composition and level of protease activity in samples of peri-implant biofluid (PIBF) from 25 healthy subjects (H group) and 25 subjects with peri-implantitis (PI group). Microbial composition was investigated using culture techniques and protease activity was determined using a FITC-labelled casein substrate. The microbial composition was highly variable in subjects both in the H and PI groups but one prominent difference was the prevalence of Porphyromonas/Prevotella and anaerobic Gram positive cocci which was significantly higher in the PI than in the H group. A subgroup of subjects with peri-implantitis displayed a high level of protease activity in the PIBF compared to healthy subjects. However, this activity could not be related to the presence of specific bacterial species. We propose that a high level of protease activity may be a predictive factor for disease progression in peri-implantitis. Further longitudinal studies are however required to determine whether assessment of protease activity could serve as a useful method to identify patients at risk for progressive tissue destruction.