Periodontal Family · Entry-Point Panel

Essentials Panel.

Our starting-point gum-health test. It checks the seven bacteria most linked to gum disease and turns them into a clear 1-5 risk score and a plain read on what's going on - everything you need for everyday care, nothing you don't.

Our entry-point periodontal panel: a salivary qPCR assay of the six core periodontal pathogens plus F. nucleatum, resolved into the 1–5 Periodontal Risk Score, a pattern call from the verified catalog, and the 0–100 Periodontal Pressure Score — the foundation of OraPath's interpretive method for routine recall.

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What this panel is

Built for a specific clinical question.

The Essentials Panel is our foundational gum-health test. It focuses on the seven bacteria most closely tied to gum disease - the group that drives the risk score, the pattern, and the clinical story for most everyday cases.

It uses the same trusted scoring as our flagship Comprehensive Panel - the same risk score, the same library of research-backed patterns, the same prioritized recommendations tuned to each patient. Comprehensive simply adds an extra ecosystem layer on top; Essentials gives you everything you need for confident, routine gum care without it. You can upgrade a patient to Comprehensive any time - same lab, same method, just more depth.

The Essentials Panel quantifies the six core periodontal organisms (Aa, Pg, Td, Tf, Fa, Fn-a) plus F. nucleatum total — the configuration that drives PRS, pattern identification, and the Clinical Focus Areas for the majority of cases.

It runs the identical interpretive engine as the flagship Comprehensive Panel — same cutpoints, same verified pattern catalog, same prioritized recommendations — without the ecological scoring layer. Upgrade a case to Comprehensive when it warrants the Bridging Burden Score and ecological pattern; the assay, lab, and method are unchanged.

Clinical fit

When the Essentials (Upgradeable to Comprehensive) is right.

You're bringing saliva testing into the practice for the first time
You want it as part of routine cleanings and recall visits
You're tracking how a patient responds to gum treatment over time
You want solid gum-disease scoring without the extra layers of the Comprehensive panel
The wider ecosystem picture isn't what this patient needs right now

Practices can upgrade from Essentials to Comprehensive at any time — same underlying laboratory infrastructure, same methodology, additional organisms and scoring layers added at the report level.

Report contents

What the report contains.

A simple 1-5 gum-disease risk score, explained in plain terms
A 0-100 'pressure' score that catches smaller changes between visits
The specific pattern your bacteria form, matched to 14 research-backed patterns
Clear flags for findings worth a closer look
A reference reading for F. nucleatum, a common marker bacterium
A short, prioritized list of what to focus on for this patient
An easy guide to how the bacteria levels are reported
The research and references behind every result

Sample reports

How the panel reads across clinical scenarios.

Two real examples showing how the same test can tell very different stories - and what each one means for the patient.

Synergistic pattern case

Two key gum-disease bacteria (Pg and Td) show up together at moderate levels. Neither would raise a flag on its own, but together they're a known warning sign - so the report points toward active gum-disease risk.

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Isolated-organism case

Most of the panel is quiet, but one important bacterium (Aa) stands out. The report explains the specific risk it carries, even on its own.

View sample PDF →

See all sample reports

The details

What to know about this test.

Panel: Essentials (Upgradeable to Comprehensive)
Family: Periodontal
Sample: A quick saliva sample, collected chairside in under two minutes; A simple saliva sample you collect at home in under two minutes
How it works: A DNA-based saliva test that identifies the bacteria present and how much of each
What's measured: 7 (6 core perio + F. nucleatum total)
Report: Essentials (with on-demand Antibiotic Considerations Report)
Results: Back in two business days, posted to your OraPath account
Where it's run: In our own CLIA- and COLA-accredited lab (IMMYLabs), under the standards that govern clinical testing
Reading the levels: Each organism is reported on a clear scale — from not detected to high — so you can see what's driving the result at a glance
Price (chairside): $85 per test

Volume and group pricing is available for multi-provider practices and DSOs. Talk to our team.

How we read it

How we turn the results into a clear clinical picture.

Behind the scenes, the Essentials Panel handles the core gum-health reading. It weighs the seven key bacteria against a catalog of research-backed patterns to produce the 1-5 risk score and name the pattern, then adds a 0-100 'pressure' score that tracks subtler changes over time. From there it builds the prioritized focus areas and, when relevant, antibiotic considerations - all from the same result.

Essentials runs the core periodontal reading. Organism detection levels are weighed against the verified pattern catalog to produce the 1–5 PRS and the pattern call, with the moderate-only cap and synergistic rules applied. The continuous 0–100 PPS surfaces treatment-response signal between visits before the categorical band shifts.

PRS, PPS, and pattern feed the prioritized Clinical Focus Areas and, on demand, the Antibiotic Considerations Report — all from the same specimen.

Compare across the panel family

See the other panels.

In-family sibling

Comprehensive Panel

Periodontal Family · Flagship Panel

15 (6 core perio + 5 bridging + 2 early colonizers + Candida + F. nucleatum total)

See the Comprehensive Panel → Cross-family

Balance Test

Algorithmic-Scoring Family · Flagship Panel

16 (6 core perio + 2 caries + Candida + 3 protective commensals + 4 nitric oxide-producing)

See the Balance Test → Cross-family

PerioCaries Risk (Upgradeable to Balance Test)

Algorithmic-Scoring Family · Entry-Point Panel

8 (6 core perio + S. mutans + S. sobrinus)

See the PerioCaries Risk (Upgradeable to Balance Test) →

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Run in our own lab

Every test runs in our own CLIA- and COLA-accredited lab in Norman, Oklahoma.

Results in 2 business days from receipt

From the moment your sample arrives, posted straight to your OraPath account.

Free shipping, both ways

Kits ship free with a prepaid return envelope included — the same for individuals and practices.

Grounded in the literature

Every score traces back to the published research behind it.