Gong Siew-Ging, Gong Siew-Ging, Switzer Judith, Nainar S M Hashim, Lévesque Céline M
Orthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Pediatric Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Caries Res. 2025;59(5):394-405. doi: 10.1159/000543421. Epub 2025 Jan 7.
Children with early childhood caries (ECC) show different caries severities and susceptibility in different tooth types and location in the oral cavity. The study aimed to investigate differences in the oral microbiome in ECC subjects stratified according to the severity of caries and between more and less caries-prone teeth within the same subjects.
Supragingival plaque from the upper and lower anterior regions in the oral cavity of subjects were collected in 3 groups of increasing caries severity: G1 - molar (M) caries only; G2 - molar and upper anterior (UA) caries; and G3 - M + UA + lower anterior (LA) caries followed by microbiome analysis.
Alpha-diversity analyses showed inter- but no intra-individual statistically significant differences between the UA and LA (p < 0.001, LA > UA) and a significant difference between the microbiome of the three caries groups (p < 0.001). There were significant beta-diversity differences between G1 and G2 (p < 0.05) and in the composition and diversity among the three groups (p < 0.001). Actinomyces, Saccharibacteria_genera_inserta_sedis, and Eikenella had increased differential abundance in G1 versus G3 and Fusobacterium was less abundant in G2 compared to the other groups.
There were clear distinct differences in tooth-site-specific and caries-severity microbiome diversity patterns and bacterial abundance profiles in S-ECC children.
患有幼儿龋（ECC）的儿童在口腔内不同牙齿类型和位置表现出不同的龋病严重程度和易感性。本研究旨在调查根据龋病严重程度分层的ECC受试者口腔微生物群的差异，以及同一受试者中龋病易感性较高和较低的牙齿之间的差异。
收集三组龋病严重程度递增的受试者口腔上下前部区域的龈上菌斑：G1组——仅磨牙（M）龋；G2组——磨牙和上前牙（UA）龋；G3组——M + UA +下前牙（LA）龋，随后进行微生物群分析。
α多样性分析显示，UA和LA之间存在个体间但无个体内统计学显著差异（p < 0.001，LA > UA），且三个龋病组的微生物群之间存在显著差异（p < 0.001）。G1和G2之间存在显著的β多样性差异（p < 0.05），且三组之间在组成和多样性方面存在显著差异（p < 0.001）。与G3相比，放线菌属、插入糖菌属未定种和艾肯菌属在G1中的差异丰度增加，与其他组相比，梭杆菌属在G2中的丰度较低。
重度早期儿童龋（S-ECC）儿童在牙齿部位特异性和龋病严重程度的微生物群多样性模式及细菌丰度谱方面存在明显差异。
