Oral microbiome characteristics in children with and without early childhood caries.

OBJECTIVE: Early childhood caries (ECC) negatively affects children's growth due to its close relation to an imbalance of the oral microbiota. This study aimed to evaluate the distribution of the oral microbiota in children with ECC and healthy individuals. METHODS: The oral microbiota of 20 children with dental caries from both carious teeth (CC cohort) and healthy teeth (CH cohort), and the oral microbiota of 20 healthy control children (HH cohort) were subjected to 16S rDNA sequencing. RESULTS: The results revealed significant differences between the microbial structure of the CC and CH cohorts of every child with ECC. The most common microbes were Streptococcus, Neisseria, Leptotrichia, Lautropia and Haemophilus. Specifically, the CC cohort contained Lactobacillus, Veillonella, and Prevotella 7, the CH cohort contained Actinomyces, Bifidobacterium and Abiotrophia, and the HH cohort mainly contained Neisseria, Leptotrichia, Porphyromonas and Gemella. Lastly, we established a random forest model consisting of 10 genera (Prevotella 7, Actinobacillus, etc.) which demonstrated promising clinical diagnostic ability (area under the curve (AUC) = 89.8%). These findings indicate that oral microbiota can potentially be used as therapeutic targets or diagnostic markers for the early prediction and prevention of caries in children.

Lactiplantibacillus Plantarum CCFM8724 Reduces the Amounts of Oral Pathogens and Alters the Oral Microbiota in Children With Dental Caries: a Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial.

Objective Early childhood caries (ECC) is closely related to the disorders of oral microbiota. Probiotics antagonize pathogenic bacteria and regulate the composition of the microbiota. We aimed to investigate the effects of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum CCFM8724 on Streptococcus mutans, Candida albicans, and oral microbiota of patients.Methods Children with ECC aged 3‒6 years were randomly divided into probiotic and placebo groups in the double-blind controlled trial. The intervention and washout periods were 28 days and 14 days, respectively. On days 1 and 28, dental plaques were collected. The effects of L. plantarum CCFM8724 on the oral microbiota of patients were investigated by sequencing the V3-V4 region of 16S rDNA. On days 1, 14, 28 and 42, qPCR was used to investigate the effect of L. plantarum CCFM8724 on the amounts of S. mutans and C. albicans in the saliva of children with ECC.Results L. plantarum CCFM8724 significantly reduced the amounts of S. mutans and C. albicans in saliva of children with ECC (p < 0.01). After consumption of L. plantarum CCFM8724, the abundance of Firmicutes, Granulicatella and Gemella increased, whereas the abundance of Proteobacteria, Neisseria, Bifidobacterium and Catonella decreased. Conclusion: Our results emphasize that probiotics could play a beneficial role in the prevention and treatment of ECC in children from an oral microecological perspective.