Figure 3. Detection of P. gingivalis and T. forsythia in 124 paired tongue and subgingival samples of 23 healthy, 59 early periodontitis 1, and 42 early periodontitis 2 individuals, by means of the multiple PCR assay. There was no difference in P. gingivalis detection between tongue and subgingival samples, but T. forsythia was detected more frequently subgingivally (p = 0.001). P. gingivalis in tongue and subgingival samples (p < 0.001) and T. forsythia in subgingival samples (p < 0.03) were associated with early periodontitis.