Classes of antibacterial agents with the various oral diseases they treat, oral bacteria they target, and their disadvantages.

Classes of antibiotics	Diseases targeted	Oral bacteria against which antibiotics are active	Associated problems	Ref.
β-Lactams	Localized and generalized aggressive periodontitis	A. actinomycetemcomitans	Due to bacterial resistance they should be used in combination with β-lactamase inhibitors	88
Tetracyclines	Localized aggressive periodontitis	A. actinomycetemcomitans, P. gingivalis, P. intermedia, E. corrodens, F. nucleatum, and P. micra	Adverse effect of metal chelation	88
Macrolides	Aggressive and chronic periodontitis	P. gingivalis	Not as effective as MTZ + AMX combination therapy	60
Nitroimidazoles	Localized aggressive periodontitis (when used in combination therapy with other antibiotics)	Active against most Gram-negative species, including P. gingivalis, F. nucleatum, and P. intermedia	Only active against planktonic species of P. gingivalis	72, 88
Fluoroquinolones	Chronic periodontitis	Active against all strains of A. actinomycetemcomitans	Active against Gram-negative bacteria, but little activity against anaerobic bacteria	64
Lincosamides	Chronic periodontitis	P. gingivalis and P. intermedia	A. actinomycetemcomitans displays resistance to lincosamides	89