Burne R A
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, New York 14642, USA.
J Dent Res. 1998 Mar;77(3):445-52. doi: 10.1177/00220345980770030301.
Microbial biofilms form on oral surfaces. These biofilms usually exist in dynamic equilibria with host defenses and are compatible with maintenance of the integrity of the target tissues. Disease occurs when the composition and the metabolic activities of complex communities in biofilms are perturbed. These ecologically driven changes in oral biofilms result in increases in the proportions of pathogenic micro-organisms, which possess enzymatic and structural determinants that may render them more virulent than organisms associated with oral health. This brief review focuses on key environmental influences, and genetic and physiologic aspects of bacteria associated with the formation of dental caries, and attempts to identify some areas of oral microbiology in which interdisciplinary efforts will be essential for dissection of the molecular events controlling the development and persistence of pathogenic plaques. The focus is on strategies to enhance fundamental knowledge of oral biofilm composition, structure, and activities, with the rationale that broadly effective therapeutic strategies targeted at plaque physiology, or at biofilm development and persistence, can arise from such knowledge.
微生物生物膜在口腔表面形成。这些生物膜通常与宿主防御处于动态平衡，并且与靶组织完整性的维持相容。当生物膜中复杂群落的组成和代谢活动受到干扰时，疾病就会发生。口腔生物膜中这些由生态驱动的变化导致致病微生物比例增加，这些致病微生物具有酶和结构决定因素，这可能使它们比与口腔健康相关的微生物更具毒性。这篇简短的综述重点关注与龋齿形成相关的关键环境影响、细菌的遗传和生理方面，并试图确定口腔微生物学的一些领域，在这些领域中跨学科努力对于剖析控制致病性菌斑发展和持续存在的分子事件至关重要。重点是增强对口腔生物膜组成、结构和活动的基础知识的策略，其基本原理是基于这样的知识可以产生针对菌斑生理学、生物膜发展和持续存在的广泛有效的治疗策略。
