Year: 2013
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to profile the natural history of oral microbial communities in infants from birth through the first year of life to determine the evolution of complex microbial communities using next generation sequencing in order to better understand the progression of oral disease processes.Although several studies have investigated the determinants of oral microbial composition, those studies have focused on one or a few determinants at a time and have generally involved a cross-sectional rather than a longitudinal study.In this longitudinal study of infants, fourteen mother-infant pairs from diverse backgrounds were recruited and oral bacterial acquisition was monitored monthly from birth to age one year.Monthly saliva samples were collected from infants and mothers and monthly plaque samples were collected from infants when teeth erupted.Bacterial species and genera were identified by pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA genes.Changes in bacterial levels and community diversity over time were analyzed using graphical analysis and multidimensional scaling based on Bray-Curtis dissimilarity.Preliminary analysis of three mother-infant pairs revealed that infant salivary oral microbiota were detectible within two weeks after birth and increased in complexity over the course of the infants' first year of life.Streptococcus mitis group, Streptococcus salivarius group, Gemella haemolysans group, Veillonella atypical group, and Rothia iii mucilaginosa were detectable in all infants by age two weeks.By age twelve months, twenty-six core bacterial species, including commensal and pathogenic species, were identified in all infants studied, and the infants exhibited oral microbial communities that were more similar to each others'.Furthermore, the infant oral microbiota progressed over the course of twelve months to resemble that of mothers.The infant oral microbiome consists of a large number of species that are detectable as early as two weeks after birth.Understanding the development of bacterial communities in the oral cavity during infancy can help in the development of preventive and treatment strategies to guide the formation of health-promoting bacterial communities.
Author: Sulyanto, Rosalyn
Language: English
Subfield: Periodontics
Field: Dentistry
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7048950953