InstalabAlert 2™
Should you take a Alert 2™ test?
This test is most useful if any of these apply to you.
12 biomarkers included
- Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitansDistinct periodontal bacterium tied to rapid, early-onset disease patterns, especially when found in high amounts with rapid bone loss.Why it mattersHigh amounts warrant periodontal evaluation, especially with young onset or family history of early tooth loss.
- Porphyromonas gingivalisRed-complex bacterium most strongly linked to pocket depth, bleeding, and bone loss. Its load carries particular weight in the red group.Why it mattersHigh levels, especially with Tannerella and Treponema, point to an established disease-linked community.
- Tannerella forsythiaRed-complex partner that rises with deep pockets, bleeding, and loss of tooth support, especially when the other red species are high.Why it mattersElevation strengthens the red-complex signal rather than acting as a stand-alone diagnosis.
- Treponema denticolaRed-complex bacterium that thrives in deep, low-oxygen pockets and often appears with Porphyromonas gingivalis and Tannerella forsythia.Why it mattersHigh Treponema plus high Prevotella intermedia is a particularly concerning severe-periodontitis pattern.
- Eubacterium nodatumOrange-complex bacterium tied to deeper pockets and bleeding sites, and one that often falls after successful deep cleaning.Why it mattersElevation adds weight to an orange-complex pattern linked to active breakdown.
- Fusobacterium nucleatum/periodonticumCentral bridging bacterium. It helps early colonizers connect with later, low-oxygen disease species in the gum-pocket community.Why it mattersElevation suggests the bacterial environment is becoming more hospitable to red-complex growth.
- Prevotella intermediaOrange-complex bacterium that rises with gingivitis and periodontitis and can pair with Treponema denticola in severe disease patterns.Why it mattersHigh levels with Treponema denticola mark a stronger severe-disease signal than either alone.
- Campylobacter rectusOrange-complex bacterium linked to periodontal inflammation and among the species that often decline after effective deep cleaning.Why it mattersFalling levels after therapy can support that the bacterial side is improving.
- Peptostreptococcus (Micromonas) microsNow often called Parvimonas micra. It is an orange-complex bacterium elevated in periodontitis and seen in some hard-to-treat patterns.Why it mattersRising with other orange species suggests a bacterial community that may resist full resolution.
- Eikenella corrodensEarly colonizer that helps show whether the broader bacterial community is shifting in a way that supports later pathogens.Why it mattersElevation adds early-community context when red or orange species are also high.
- Capnocytophaga speciesEarly colonizer group. Large overgrowth can show bacterial balance shifting away from stable health and toward disease-prone communities.Why it mattersHigh levels add context for a broader shift, especially when red or orange species are elevated.
- MyPerioID® IL-6Checks interleukin-6 (IL-6) genetic risk. IL-6 helps set inflammatory response to bacterial challenge.Why it mattersA higher-risk result supports tighter monitoring, but its direction of effect is uncertain and it should not drive treatment.
About Alert 2™
Gum disease starts with plaque, but the damage depends on which bacteria dominate and how your immune system answers. Periodontitis is the form where that process damages the structures that hold teeth in place. A dental probe can show pocket depth and bleeding. It cannot show which bacteria are most abundant, or whether your inherited inflammatory tendency may make the same bacterial pattern more damaging.
Alert 2 uses one oral-rinse saliva sample. It measures 11 periodontal bacteria and one interleukin-6 (IL-6) gene marker. IL-6 is an immune signal involved in inflammation and bone breakdown and repair. The bacterial results are the part to track over time. The genetic result is a fixed risk context, not a diagnosis.
What This Panel Reveals
The bacterial side is based on a simple idea from classic plaque studies: periodontal bacteria tend to travel in groups. The red complex is the group most tied to deep pockets, bleeding, and loss of tooth support. The orange complex often comes earlier and helps create the low-oxygen setting in which red-complex species do well.
That classic work used plaque from gum pockets, not saliva. Saliva is a pooled sample from the whole mouth. That makes it useful for screening and tracking trends, but it cannot tell you which tooth or pocket is driving the result.
Alert 2 also includes bacteria outside those red and orange groups. Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans is the outlier worth separating because high amounts are tied to rapid, early-onset disease patterns. In the 2017 World Workshop classification, aggressive and chronic forms were consolidated into a single periodontitis category, since no microbial signature cleanly separates them; the early-onset pattern is now described as a clinical phenotype rather than a distinct diagnosis. The other early colonizers help show whether the mouth's bacterial balance is shifting toward a disease-prone community.
The MyPerioID interleukin-6 (IL-6) result looks at the host side. A genotype is the version of a gene you were born with. IL-6 variants have been linked to periodontitis risk in some populations, but findings are heterogeneous and some analyses suggest IL-6 may even be protective in periodontal inflammation. Genetic tests have not been validated as stand-alone periodontitis risk scores. Read this result as context for how cautious to be, not as proof that damage is happening.
How to Read Your Results Together
Neither side works well in isolation. A single species can show up in a healthy mouth, and a genetic result cannot diagnose gum disease. The useful signal is the pattern: which bacterial groups are high, whether the clinical exam shows damage, and whether your fixed inflammatory setting raises concern.
| Pattern | What It Suggests |
|---|---|
| High red complex species together | The strongest bacterial pattern for active periodontitis, especially when pocket depth, bleeding, or bone loss are also present. |
| High orange complex, low red complex | A bridging pattern. It can mean the bacterial community is becoming more hospitable to red-complex species. |
| High Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans | A signal to take seriously, especially with rapid bone loss, young onset, or family history of early tooth loss. |
| High bacteria plus higher-risk IL-6 result | A higher-concern pattern. The gene result does not diagnose disease, and its direction of effect is uncertain, but it may lower your threshold for tighter monitoring. |
The red-complex species often rise together. If all three are high, the group matters more than arguing about which one is the culprit.
What to Do with Your Results
If red-complex species are high, or A. actinomycetemcomitans is high, pair the report with a periodontal exam. Full charting, bleeding on probing, and dental X-rays are still how periodontitis is diagnosed and staged. The panel tells you what is present in saliva. The exam tells you what it has done.
Scaling and root planing is the standard deep-cleaning treatment for periodontitis. It often lowers the red and orange species measured by this panel. Antibiotics are sometimes added in advanced cases, especially under periodontal care, but baseline pathogen detection alone should not decide that. Trials show benefit from amoxicillin with metronidazole in some patients, with the largest effect in deep pockets and more advanced disease, while pretreatment pathogen profiles did not reliably identify who would benefit; clinical thresholds such as baseline pocket depth and younger age have done better.
The IL-6 genetic result does not change. If it suggests higher inflammatory tendency, focus on the things that do change: smoking, blood sugar, oral hygiene, and periodontal maintenance. Track bacteria after active treatment and during maintenance when disease is still active; stretch the interval only once bacterial and clinical measures are stable.
When Results Can Be Misleading
Saliva pools bacteria from every surface in your mouth, so a positive test tells you a species is present somewhere, not which tooth is in trouble. Cutoffs are lab-specific rather than universal disease thresholds, so trends and exam findings matter.
Eating, brushing, mouthwash, antimicrobial rinses, or a recent professional cleaning can lower detectable counts. Follow the kit's collection instructions and collect before major cleaning or treatment when possible. The IL-6 result is one genetic input in a disease shaped by many genes and habits. Major periodontal consensus reviews do not support acting on a single gene marker by itself.