Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Periodontitis, a chronic inflammatory disease affecting approximately 40% of U.S. adults aged 30 years and older, is characterized by dysbiosis of the dental plaque microbiome. However, although scaling and root planing (SRP) is the cornerstone of periodontal treatment, its effects on the taxonomic composition and functional potential of the dental plaque microbiome remain incompletely understood. In this study, we used whole-metagenome shotgun sequencing to characterize taxonomic composition and functional potential in dental plaque microbiomes collected from 39 patients with Stage II or III generalized periodontitis before and 3-4 months after SRP. Consistent with clinical improvement, periodontal therapy significantly reduced bleeding on probing and plaque index. Whole-metagenome shotgun sequencing identified 3.18 million non-redundant genes and 12,353 microbial species across 78 samples, revealing increased gene and species richness after treatment, along with a significant restructuring of microbial community. Established periodontal pathogens, including Porphyromonas gingivalis and Tannerella forsythia , as well as the emerging pathogen Escherichia coli , decreased following treatment, whereas health-associated early colonizers, including multiple Actinomyces species and Streptococcus cristatus , increased. Functional annotation using the Carbohydrate-Active Enzymes (CAZy) database identified treatment-associated differences in several carbohydrate-active enzymes, including multiple glycosyltransferases, indicating remodeling of the predicted functional potential of the dental plaque microbiome. These findings demonstrate that successful SRP promotes coordinated taxonomic and predicted functional remodeling of the dental plaque microbiome and highlight the value of shotgun metagenomic sequencing for characterizing both taxonomic and functional recovery following periodontal therapy.
DOI: 10.3390/ijms27156584
Authors: Qingguo Wang, Bing-Yan Wang, Derek Wilus, Hua Xie
Language: English
Subfield: Periodontics
Field: Dentistry
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,499
Funders: University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, National Institutes of Health, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities
OpenAlex ID: W7170703769