JBR Journal of Interdisciplinary Medicine and Dental Science
Open Access

Review Article

Enterococcus faecalis in Oral Infections

Pinheiro ET^1* and Mayer MPA²

¹Discipline of Endodontics, Department of Dentistry, School of Dentistry, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

²Department of Microbiology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

Corresponding Author:

Ericka Tavares Pinheiro
Department of Dentistry, School of Dentistry
University of São Paulo, Av. Lineu Prestes
2227, São Paulo, SP, 05508-000, Brazil
Tel: 55-11-3091-7839/202
Fax: 55-11-3091-7839
E-mail: erickapinheiro@usp.com

Received date July 16, 2014; Accepted date November 21, 2014; Published date November 24, 2014

Citation: Pinheiro ET, Mayer MPA (2015) Enterococcus faecalis in Oral Infections. J Interdiscipl Med Dent Sci 3:160. doi: 10.4172/2376-032X.1000160

Copyright: © 2015 Pinheiro ET, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Enterococcus faecalis is a member of the normal microbiota; however, multidrug-resistant strains are  important causes of nosocomial infections. Their ability to cause serious infections has been linked to   variable traits that enhance their virulence. In the oral cavity, E. faecalis is commonly detected from root canals of teeth with post-treatment apical periodontitis or refractory/advanced marginal periodontitis. Isolates from oral infections have a genetic and virulence profile different from hospital-derived isolates. This Review discusses the occurrence of E. faecalis in oral infections, and the virulence factors that may contribute to the pathogenesis of post-treatment apical and marginal periodontitis. The susceptibility patterns of oral E. faecalis to various antibiotics of potential use in periodontal and endodontic therapy are also reviewed.

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