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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Oral. Health
Sec. Oral Infections and Microbes
Volume 5 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/froh.2024.1475361
This article is part of the Research Topic Exploring Oral Microbiota Dysbiosis as a Risk Factor for Oral and Non-Communicable Diseases View all 8 articles

Oral Biofilm Composition and Phenotype in Caries-active and Cariesfree Children

Provisionally accepted
Gabriella Boisen Gabriella Boisen 1Susanne Brogårdh-Roth Susanne Brogårdh-Roth 1Jessica Neilands Jessica Neilands 1Alex Mira Alex Mira 2Miguel Carda- Diéguez Miguel Carda- Diéguez 2Julia R. Davies Julia R. Davies 1*
  • 1 Malmö University, Malmö, Sweden
  • 2 Fundación para el Fomento de la Investigación Sanitaria y Biomédica de la Comunitat Valenciana (FISABIO), Valencia, Spain

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

    During development of dental caries, oral biofilms undergo changes in microbial composition and phenotypical traits. The aim of this study was to compare the acid tolerance (AT) of plaque from two groups of children: one with severe caries (CA) and one with no caries experience (CF) and to correlate this to the microbial composition and metabolic profile of the biofilms. Dental plaque samples from 20 children (2-5 years) in each group were studied. The AT was analyzed by viability assessment after exposure to an acid challenge (pH 3.5), using LIVE/DEAD® BacLightä stain and confocal microscopy. Levels of acid tolerance (AT) were evaluated using a scoring system ranging from 1 (no/low AT), to 5 (high/all AT). Metabolic profiles were investigated following a 20mM glucose pulse for one hour through Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR). Microbial composition was characterized by 16S rRNA Illumina sequencing. The mean AT score of the CA group (4.1) was significantly higher than that of the CF group (2.6, p<0.05). When comparing the end-products of glucose metabolism detected after a glucose-pulse, the CA samples showed a significantly higher lactate to acetate, lactate to formate, lactate to succinate and lactate to ethanol ratio than the CF samples (p<0.05). The bacterial characterization of the samples revealed 25 species significantly more abundant in the CA samples, including species of Streptococcus, Prevotella, Leptotrichia and Veillonella (p<0.05). Our results show that AT in pooled plaque from the oral cavity of children with severe caries is increased compared to that in healthy subjects and that this can be related to differences in the metabolic activity and microbial composition of the biofilms. Thus, the overall phenotype of dental plaque appears to be a promising indicator of the caries status of individuals. However, longitudinal studies investigating how the AT

    Keywords: Oral Biofilm1, dental caries2, Microbiome3, Acid Tolerance4, Metabolomics5, NMR6

    Received: 06 Aug 2024; Accepted: 07 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Boisen, Brogårdh-Roth, Neilands, Mira, Carda- Diéguez and Davies. 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: Julia R. Davies, Malmö University, Malmö, Sweden

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