Long-Term Fluctuation of Oral Biofilm Microbiota following Different Dietary Phases

Caries affects a large proportion of the population worldwide, resulting in high treatment costs. Its etiology can be ascribed to shifts of the microbiota in dental biofilms primarily driven by dietary factors. It is unclear how diet affects the microbial community of plaque biofilm in situ and whether it can be modulated to help prevent caries development. To address these issues, we analyzed changes of the in situ plaque microbiota following 3-month-long dietary changes involving elevated sucrose, dairy, and dietary fiber consumption over a period of 15 months. Applying high-throughput sequencing, we found non-mutans streptococci, a taxonomic group involved in the beginning stages toward microbial dysbiosis, in decreased abundance with elevated dairy and dietary fiber intake. Through analysis of the enamel surface roughness, these effects were confirmed. Therefore, correspondent dietary measures can be recommended for children as well as adults for caries prevention. ABSTRACT Caries development is associated with shifts in the oral biofilm microbiota and primarily linked to frequent simple carbohydrate consumption. Different nutritional ingredients can either promote or prevent caries development. To investigate the effects of selected ingredients on the oral biofilm microbiota in situ, 11 study participants underwent 3-month-long dietary phases with intake of a regular diet (PI), additional frequent sucrose (PII), milk and yoghurt (PIII), and a diet rich in dietary fiber (PIV) and then returned to their regular diet (PV). Oral biofilm was sampled and analyzed applying 16S rRNA Illumina MiSeq sequencing. Additionally, the effect on the enamel was analyzed by measuring enamel surface roughness with laser scanning microscopy. The beta-diversity results showed that the microbiota in all the following phases differed significantly from PI and that the microbial community in PII was significantly different from all other phases. The abundance of the genus Streptococcus fluctuated over the course of the five phases, with a significant increase in PII (P = 0.01), decreasing in PIII and PIV (PIII and PIV versus PII: P < 0.00001) and increasing again toward PV. Other taxa showed various fluctuations of their abundances, with PV returning approximately to the levels of PI. In conclusion, while elevated sucrose consumption favored caries-promoting non-mutans streptococci, frequent milk and yoghurt intake caused a significant decrease in the abundance of these microbial taxa and in addition reduced enamel surface roughness. These results indicate that modulations of the oral biofilm microbiota can be attained even in adults through dietary changes and corresponding recommendations can be made for the prevention of caries development. IMPORTANCE Caries affects a large proportion of the population worldwide, resulting in high treatment costs. Its etiology can be ascribed to shifts of the microbiota in dental biofilms primarily driven by dietary factors. It is unclear how diet affects the microbial community of plaque biofilm in situ and whether it can be modulated to help prevent caries development. To address these issues, we analyzed changes of the in situ plaque microbiota following 3-month-long dietary changes involving elevated sucrose, dairy, and dietary fiber consumption over a period of 15 months. Applying high-throughput sequencing, we found non-mutans streptococci, a taxonomic group involved in the beginning stages toward microbial dysbiosis, in decreased abundance with elevated dairy and dietary fiber intake. Through analysis of the enamel surface roughness, these effects were confirmed. Therefore, correspondent dietary measures can be recommended for children as well as adults for caries prevention.