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MINI REVIEW article

Front. Oral. Health
Sec. Oral Infections and Microbes
Volume 5 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/froh.2024.1426903
This article is part of the Research Topic Investigating the Role of Periodontal Microbiota in Health and Disease View all 3 articles

Exploring links between oral health and infective endocarditis

Provisionally accepted
Joseph L. Falconer Joseph L. Falconer 1,2Ronak Rajani Ronak Rajani 3Vitaliy Androshchuk Vitaliy Androshchuk 3Amieth Yogarajah Amieth Yogarajah 4Rebecca A. Greenbury Rebecca A. Greenbury 5Ayden Ismail Ayden Ismail 1Natasha Oh Natasha Oh 1Luigi Nibali Luigi Nibali 1,2Eleanor M. D'Agostino Eleanor M. D'Agostino 6Vanessa Sousa Vanessa Sousa 1,2*
  • 1 Centre for Host-Microbiome Interactions, Faculty of Dental, Oral and Craniofacial Sciences, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
  • 2 Department of Periodontology, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom
  • 3 Department of cardiology, Guys and St Thomas´NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom
  • 4 Department of Cardiology, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom
  • 5 Ealing Hospital NHS Trust, Southall, Ealing, United Kingdom
  • 6 Unilever (United Kingdom), London, United Kingdom

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Infective endocarditis (IE) is a bacterial infection of the heart’s inner lining. A low incidence rate combined with a high mortality rate mean that IE can be difficult to treat effectively. There is currently substantial evidence supporting a link between oral health and IE with the oral microbiome impacting various aspects of IE, including pathogenesis, diagnosis, treatment, and mortality rates. The oral microbiome is highly diverse and plays a crucial role in maintaining oral health by providing protective functions. However, when dysbiosis occurs, conditions such as periodontal or peri-implant disease can arise, offering a pathway for bacteraemia to develop. The role of the oral microbiome as a coloniser, facilitator and driver of IE remains to be uncovered by next-generation sequencing techniques. Understanding the dysbiosis and ecology of the oral microbiome of IE patients will allow improvements into the diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of the disease. Furthermore, an increased awareness amongst those at high-risk of developing IE may encourage improved oral hygiene methods and lower incidence rates. This narrative review examines current findings on the relationship between oral health and IE. It draws from key studies on both topics, with manuscripts selected for their pertinence to the subject. It highlights the link between the oral microbiome and IE by exploring diagnostic techniques and treatments for IE caused by oral commensals.

    Keywords: Oral health1, endocarditis2, Diagnostics3, Microbiome4, periodontal5 Font: Italic Formatted: Font: Italic Formatted: Font: Italic Formatted: Font: Italic Font: Italic Formatted: Font: Italic

    Received: 02 May 2024; Accepted: 18 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Falconer, Rajani, Androshchuk, Yogarajah, Greenbury, Ismail, Oh, Nibali, D'Agostino and Sousa. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Vanessa Sousa, Centre for Host-Microbiome Interactions, Faculty of Dental, Oral and Craniofacial Sciences, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.