Inter-site and interpersonal diversity of salivary and tongue microbiomes, and the effect of oral care tablets

Oral microbiota has been linked to both health and diseases. Specifically, tongue-coating microbiota has been implicated in aspiration pneumonia and halitosis. Approaches altering one's oral microbiota have the potential to improve oral health and prevent diseases.

While the salivary and tongue microbiomes differed significantly in terms of bacterial composition, they showed inter- rather than intra-individual diversity. A one-day usage of oral care tablets did not alter the salivary or tongue microbiomes of healthy adults. Whether the use of oral tablets for a longer period on healthy people or people with greater tongue coating accumulation shifts their oral microbiome needs to be investigated.

Here, we designed a study that allows simultaneous monitoring of the salivary and tongue microbiomes during an intervention on the oral microbiota. We applied this study design to evaluate the effect of single-day use of oral care tablets on the oral microbiome of 10 healthy individuals. Tablets with or without actinidin, a protease that reduces biofilm formation in vitro, were tested.

Alpha diversity of the tongue microbiome was significantly lower than that of the salivary microbiome, using both the number of observed amplicon sequence variants (254 ± 53 in saliva and 175 ± 37 in tongue; P = 8.9e-7, Kruskal-Wallis test) and Shannon index (6.0 ± 0.4 in saliva and 5.4 ± 0.3 in tongue; P = 2.0e-7, Kruskal-Wallis test). Fusobacterium periodonticum, Saccharibacteria sp. 352, Streptococcus oralis subsp . dentisani, Prevotella melaninogenica, Granulicatella adiacens, Campylobacter concisus, and Haemophilus parainfluenzae were the core operational taxonomic units (OTUs) common to both sites. The salivary and tongue microbiomes of one individual tended to be more similar to one another than to those of other individuals. The tablets did not affect the alpha or beta diversity of the oral microbiome, nor the abundance of specific bacterial species. Conclusions: While the salivary and tongue microbiomes differed significantly in terms of bacterial composition, they showed inter- rather than intra-individual diversity. A one-day usage of oral care tablets did not alter the salivary or tongue microbiomes of healthy adults. Whether the use of oral tablets for a longer period on healthy people or people with greater tongue coating accumulation shifts their oral microbiome needs to be investigated.