Abstract
The microbial communities of the oral fluid are in direct contact with tobacco smoke, which may thus affect these communities. Few culture-based studies have analyzed the effects of tobacco smoking on the oral fluid microbiota. Using bacterial culture we investigated whether tobacco smoking altered the microbial diversity of the oral fluid, focusing on aerobic and facultative anaerobic Gram-positive bacteria otherwise comprising of major pathogens. Among 90 oral fluid specimens collected in 19 tobacco-smokers and 71 controls, the diversity did not significantly differ with age and with sex. However, diversity was significantly lower in tobacco-smokers (nine different species) than in non-smokers (18 different species) with all the species cultured in tabocco-smokers being also cultured in non-smokers. We isolated the human pathogen Streptococcus australis for the first time from oral fluid. Tobacco smoking significantly alters the saliva Gram-positive bacterial microbiota, including pathogens with potential implication in the pathogenesis of tobacco-related diseases such as periodontitis and peri-implantitis.
Highlights
Saliva is a biological fluid secreted by the salivary glands into the oral cavity [1]
A total of 19 Gram-positive bacterial species were cultured in the entire population of 90 individuals
We are reporting on the repertoire of Gram-positive aerobic bacteria in the oral fluid using routine specific isolation and culture and MALDI-TOF-MS to identify bacterial species
Summary
Saliva is a biological fluid secreted by the salivary glands into the oral cavity [1]. Oral fluid is comprising of some Gram-positive bacteria implicated in infectious of the oral cavity along with infection distant from the oral cavity, such as infectious endocarditis [2]. As the oral cavity is one of the gateways for pathogenic bacteria into the human body, there are different important interactions between the salivary microbiota, and other microbiota in the human body, especially the intestinal microbiota [1, 4]. Several oral disorders and their treatment may have an impact on the bacterial diversity of the salivary microbiota [2]. Later studies did not rely on culture [5], or were restricted to a few Gram-positive bacterial species [6]
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