The oral microbiome in health and disease and the potential impact on personalized dental medicine

Abstract

Oral Diseases (2012) 18, 109–120 Every human body contains a personalized microbiome that is essential to maintaining health but capable of eliciting disease. The oral microbiome is particularly imperative to health because it can cause both oral and systemic disease. The oral microbiome rests within biofilms throughout the oral cavity, forming an ecosystem that maintains health when in equilibrium. However, certain ecological shifts in the microbiome allow pathogens to manifest and cause disease. Severe forms of oral disease may result in systemic disease at different body sites. Microbiomics and metagenomics are two fields of research that have emerged to identify the presence of specific microbes in the body and understand the nature of the microbiome activity during both health and disease. The analysis of the microbiome and its genomes will pave the way for more effective therapeutic and diagnostic techniques and, ultimately, contribute to the development of personalized medicine and personalized dental medicine.

A review of the evidence for pathogenic mechanisms that may link periodontitis and diabetes

“…Ideally, studies of the subgingival microbiota in patients with periodontitis and diabetes should involve control groups comprising non-diabetic individuals with matched periodontal status. Another limitation of these studies is the restricted analysis of biofilm species; global (and unbiased) analysis of the plaque microbiota using the techniques of microbiomics and metagenomics could reveal more detailed information about the influence of diabetes on the oral microbiome (Zarco et al 2012).…”

Antimicrobial Activity of Mushroom (Agaricus Bisporus) and Fungal (Trametes Gibbosa) Extracts from Mushrooms and Fungi of Egerton Main Campus, Njoro Kenya

“…A case in point is bacteria were regarded as plants belonging to the class Schizomycetes [6]. However, with the rise of sophisticated techniques coupled with advanced cellular analysis, classification of microorganisms has been ironed out.…”

Ex vivo anti-inflammatory effects of probiotics for periodontal health

“…In addition to screening for anti-inflammatory activity, the probiotic strains evaluated in this study are being screened in parallel for antagonism to, and coaggregation with, disease-associated oral bacteria, and for their effects on the composition of oral biofilms in an in vitro model, with positive preliminary results reported [19,20]. As the oral microbiota is known to play an important role in health, the administration of probiotics with these potentially beneficial properties may be a viable approach to maintain or restore a healthy balance in the microbiota rather than indiscriminate eradication through the use of antimicrobials [9,21]. The probiotic screening strategy described here is versatile, so it could also be adapted and extended to other indications.…”