The clinical relevance of microbiologic testing. Part 2: a comparative analysis of microbiologic samples secured simultaneously from the same sites and cultured in the same laboratory.

A field study using four different private periodontal practices and two independent laboratories was conducted to compare two microbiologic cultures sampled simultaneously from the same sites in 20 individual patients. Both paired samples were submitted separately to one of the two independent laboratories for bacterial identification and antibiotic sensitivity testing. The results from the two samples were quite variable.