A View on Polymerase Chain Reaction as an Outstanding Molecular Diagnostic Technique in Periodontology

Table 3

Some main advantages and limitations of the PCR technique [48, 83, 84].

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Advantages of PCR

Precise identification of bacterial strains with divergent phenotype

The ease of quantification

The ability to quantify multiple targets in the clinical specimen

Quality control

Precision

One-minute method for rapid analysis with larger sample size

Rapid analysis

The ability to search for various organisms or genes in one reaction

Least contamination

The study of strictly anaerobic infections

Greater sensitivity

Detection of viruses and mRNA expression levels

Various million times amplification of DNA or RNA

Ability to detect very small amounts of samples

Reproducibility

Facilitating the detection of bacterial DNA present at very low levels

Bacterial identification from bacterial colonies

Limitations of PCR

The enormous cost (high test and equipment cost)

Need to achieve high technical skills

Altering the specificity of amplified PCR product

False-positive/False-negative results

There are limitations to creating a high sterile environment

DNA contamination

Low ability to detect between closely related and also highly recombinant species

There are limitations in multiplex PCR mixing different primers

Capable of contaminating other reaction vials

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