Investigating the Role of Periodontal Microbiota in Health and Disease

Periodontitis is a highly prevalent dental disease with a significant impact on oral and systemic health. While its microbial origin is well established, our understanding of how microbiota are involved in periodontitis has continued to evolve over the last 50 years. Early studies (1970-1990s) employing culture-based techniques identified and characterized major periodontal pathogens, including Porphomonas gingivalis, Tannerella forsythia, and Treponema denticula, among many other subgingival bacterial species. Just before the new millennium, work by Sigmund Socransky’s group using DNA-DNA hybridization widened the circle of putative periodontal pathogens and revealed that they exist in microbial complexes, namely the so-called red complex (the aforementioned three species) and orange (Prevotella, Fusobacterium, and Campylobacter spp.). However, the last two decades have witnessed conceptual and technological breakthroughs that transformed our understanding of the microbiology of periodontitis. Namely, the emergence of the concepts of microbiome and microbial dysbiosis and the advent of next-generation sequencing technologies has enabled comprehensive and in-depth characterization of microbial communities. These advancements have led to a new paradigm in which periodontitis is believed to result from an imbalanced subgingival microbial community (dysbiosis) rather than infection with specific pathogens.

Despite such progress, much remains unknown. For example, it is not clear what drives subgingival microbial dysbiosis. Furthermore, the functional and metabolic changes in subgingival microbiome and how they interact with the host immune response to induce periodontitis are not well understood. Moreover, the potential role of microbes other than bacteria in pathogenesis of periodontitis remains unclear. In addition, information about how subgingival microbiota affect systemic health is limited. This Research Topic aims to address these gaps.

We welcome all submissions, including research articles, reviews, perspective articles, meta-analyses, mini-reviews, opinion articles, and short communications, providing new insights into the microbiology of periodontitis. Studies of interest include, but are not limited to:
- High resolution (strain-level), functional, and/or metabolic characterization of the subgingival microbiome by integration of advanced omics techniques.
- The role of virome, mycobiome and interkingdom interactions in periodontitis
- Mechanistic studies on more recently discovered periodontal pathogens and their interactions with the host.
- Investigations into the association of periodontal microbiome with systemic diseases, including oral-gut axis.
- In vitro, animal or human studies to identify the drivers of subgingival microbiome
- Studies on the subgingival microbiome in unique populations or rare forms of periodontitis.
- Effects of novel therapeutics, including microbiome modulators, on the subgingival microbiome