Objectives: direct person-to-person transmission of periodontal pathogenic bacteria through saliva has been recently suggested by many authors and dental units have been demonstrated to retract saliva from patients under treatment and to release it into the mouth of subjects undergoing next operations. In this study the presence of a group of periodontal bacterial pathogens inside the waterlines of dental units has been investigated by using polymerase chain reaction based methods. Methods: 18 dental units of 3 different manufacturers (Castellini, Anthos, Kavo) were studied. Dental units were subdivided into two groups according with their prevalent use in routine practice. The first group consisted of 9 dental characterized by the frequent use of their high-speed dental handpieces directly inside the mouth and in contact with saliva of patients. The second group, as a control, consisted of 9 dental were the use of their high-speed dental handpieces in contact with saliva was extremely infrequent. A one cm section of the waterline tubing connected to the high-speed handpiece was removed from each dental unit to evaluate the presence of DNA from Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans, Porphyromonas gingivalis, Prevotella intermedia, Bacteroides forsythus, Treponema denticola. Results: Two specimens resulted positive for Prevotella intermedia and were obtained from dental units categorized in the first group. No positive samples were found in any of dental units in the control group. Conclusion: dental units have the potential to transmit periodontal pathogens. Manufacturers should be invited to design dental units that incorporate automated devices to disinfect DUWLs between patients with minimal effort for the dental staff.

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