Oral health and plaque microbial profile in juvenile idiopathic arthritis

Abstract

BackgroundThe oral microbiota has been implicated in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis through activation of mucosal immunity. This study tested for associations between oral health, microbial communities and juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA).MethodsA cross-sectional exploratory study of subjects aged 10–18 years with oligoarticular, extended oligoarticular and polyarticular JIA was conducted. Control groups included pediatric dental clinic patients and healthy volunteers. The primary aim was to test for an association between dental health indices and JIA; the secondary aim was to characterize the microbial profile of supragingival plaque using 16S rRNA gene sequencing.ResultsThe study included 85 patients with JIA, 62 dental patients and 11 healthy child controls. JIA patients overall had significantly more gingival inflammation compared to dental patients, as evidenced by bleeding on probing of the gingiva, the most specific sign of active inflammation (p = 0.02). Overall, however, there was a trend towards better dental hygiene in the JIA patients compared to dental patients, based on indices for plaque, decay, and periodontitis. In the JIA patients, plaque microbiota analysis revealed bacteria belonging to genera Haemophilus or Kingella elevated, and Corynebacterium underrepresented. In poly JIA, bacteria belonging to the genus Porphyromonas was overrepresented and Prevotella was underrepresented.ConclusionIncreased gingival inflammation in JIA was independent of general oral health, and thus cannot be attributed to poor dental hygiene secondary to disability. The variation of microbial profile in JIA patients could indicate a possible link between gingivitis and synovial inflammation.

Salivary Oral Microbiome of Children With Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis: A Norwegian Cross-Sectional Study

“…In line with our study, Grevich et al. found depletion of genera Prevotella (phylum Bacteroidetes) in JIA, but they report an overabundance of the genera Haemophilus and Kingella (phylum proteobacteria) in JIA, which was not found in our study ( Grevich et al., 2019 ).…”

“…The significantly higher gingival inflammation found in patients with JIA compared to healthy controls is in line with many studies investigating JIA and oral health ( Welbury et al., 2003 ; Ahmed et al., 2004 ; Leksell et al., 2008 ; Santos et al., 2015 ; Grevich et al., 2019 ). Other studies find no significant difference between JIA and healthy controls ( Miranda et al., 2003 ; Savioli et al., 2004 ; Reichert et al., 2006 ; Feres De Melo et al., 2014 ; Pugliese et al., 2016 ; Kobus et al., 2017 ; Maspero et al., 2017 ), probably depending on different study design and measurement indices of gingival inflammation ( Skeie et al., 2019 ).…”

Isolation and Characterization of Kingella bonacorsii sp. nov., A Novel Kingella Species Detected in a Stable Periodontitis Subject

“…Although Kingella species are mostly commensals of the oral cavity, they can cause human diseases such as Kingella kingae , which is described as a prime cause of invasive infections, including septic arthritis, osteomyelitis and spondylodiscitis in young children [ 5 ]. Grevich et al [ 6 ] reported that juvenile idiopathic arthritis patients had significantly more gingival inflammation, and plaque microbiota analysis revealed bacteria belonging to genera Kingella elevated. By contrast, other authors showed that periodontal inflammation, in case of gingivitis or periodontitis, was characterized by a reduction of Kingella species [ 7 , 8 ].…”

Microbiomes in Supragingival Biofilms and Saliva of Adolescent Patients with Induced and Naturally Occurring Gingivitis Relative to Gingival Health

“…Some genera, including Lautropia, Kingella, Neisseria, Actinomyces, Rothia and Megasphaera were extensively more abundant in the control samples. These genera have been associated with gingival health [15,34,67,[80][81][82][83]. Comparison of relative abundances of bacterial species revealed a substantially higher abundance of C. concisus in the two gingivitis groups versus controls (Figure 3).…”