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Journal Article Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Ppublish 13 citations

PubMed: 37042041 DOI: 10.1177/00220345231160756

Microbial Indicators of Dental Health, Dysbiosis, and Early Childhood Caries.

J Dent Res 102(7):759-766

Authors: D Kahharova, V Y Pappalardo, M J Buijs, R X de Menezes, M Peters, R Jackson, A T Hara, G Eckert, B Katz, M A Keels, S M Levy, E Zaura, B W Brandt, M Fontana

Affiliations

  • Department of Preventive Dentistry, Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam (ACTA), University of Amsterdam and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
  • Biostatistics Centre, Department of Psychosocial Research and Epidemiology, Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
  • Department of Cariology, Restorative Sciences and Endodontics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
  • Department of Cariology, Operative Dentistry and Dental Public Health, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
  • Department of Biostatistics and Health Data Science, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
  • Department of Pediatrics, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA.
  • Department of Preventive and Community Dentistry, College of Dentistry and Department of Epidemiology, College of Public Health, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA.

Abstract

Dental caries lesions are a clinical manifestation of disease, preceded by microbial dysbiosis, which is poorly characterized and thought to be associated with saccharolytic taxa. Here, we assessed the associations between the oral microbiome of children and various caries risk factors such as demographics and behavioral and clinical data across early childhood and characterized over time the salivary and dental plaque microbiome of children before clinical diagnosis of caries lesions. Children ( = 266) were examined clinically at ~1, 2.5, 4, and 6.5 y of age. The microbiome samples were collected at 1, 2.5, and 4 y. Caries groups consisted of children who remained caries free (International Caries Detection and Assessment System [ICDAS] = 0) at all time points (CFAT) ( = 50); children diagnosed with caries (ICDAS ≥ 1) at 6.5 y (C6.5), 4 y (C4), or 2.5 y of age (C2.5); and children with early caries or advanced caries lesions at specific time points. Microbial community analyses were performed on zero-radius operational taxonomic units (zOTUs) obtained from V4 of 16S ribosomal RNA gene amplicon sequences. The oral microbiome of the children was affected by various factors, including antibiotic use, demographics, and dietary habits of the children and their caregivers. At all time points, various risk factors explained more of the variation in the dental plaque microbiome than in saliva. At 1 y, composition of saliva of the C4 group differed from that of the CFAT group, while at 2.5 y, this difference was observed only in plaque. At 4 y, multiple salivary and plaque zOTUs of genera and were significantly higher in samples of the C6.5 group than those of the CFAT group. In conclusion, up to 3 y prior to clinical caries detection, the oral microbial communities were already in a state of dysbiosis that was dominated by proteolytic taxa. Plaque discriminated dysbiotic oral ecosystems from healthy ones better than saliva.

MeSH

Child, Demography, Dentistry, Dysbiosis, Microbiota, Risk Factors, Dental Caries, Dental Plaque, Genes, Research, Rna, Ribosomal, 16S

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