Periodontitis is a very common health problem caused by formation of pathogenic bacterial biofilm that triggers inflammation resulting in either reversible gingivitis or irreversible periodontal hard and soft tissue damages, leading to loss of teeth when left untreated. Commensal bacteria play an important role in oral health in many aspects. Mainly by colonizing oral tissues, they (i) contribu...

Biofilm formation on oral implants can cause inflammation of peri-implant tissues, which endangers the long-term success of osseointegrated implants. It has been reported previously that implants revealing signs of peri-implantitis contain subgingival microbiota similar to those of natural teeth with periodontitis. The purpose of the first part of this study was an atraumatic, quantitative inve...

Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, a Gram-negative bacterium, and Candida albicans, a polymorphic fungus, are both commensals of the oral cavity but both are opportunistic pathogens that can cause oral diseases. A. actinomycetemcomitans produces a quorum-sensing molecule called autoinducer-2 (AI-2), synthesized by LuxS, that plays an important role in expression of virulence factors, in int...

OBJECTIVES This study was designed to evaluate the synergistic antibacterial effect of xylitol and ursolic acid (UA) against oral biofilms in vitro. MATERIALS AND METHODS S. mutans UA 159 (wild type), S. mutans KCOM 1207, KCOM 1128 and S. sobrinus ATCC 33478 were used. The susceptibility of S. mutans to UA and xylitol was evaluated using a broth microdilution method. Based on the results, com...

Dental caries is an oral disease, which has a high worldwide prevalence despite the availability of various prophylactic means, including the daily use of fluoride toothpastes, water fluoridation, dental sealants, oral health educational programs and various antiseptic mouth-rinses. One important reason for this is uncontrolled increase in consumption of foods containing considerable sucrose co...

Controlling the growth of cariogenic microorganisms such as oral streptococci is an adjunct therapy for caries-active individuals to prevent and treat caries. Here we investigated the antimicrobial activity of the synthetic amphipathic α- helical antimicrobial peptide GH12 (GLLWHLLHHLLH-NH2) against oral streptococci in vitro. Circular dichroism studies showed that GH12 takes on an α-helical co...

PURPOSE Polymicrobial biofilms are abundant in clinical disease, particularly within the oral cavity. Creating complex biofilm models that recapitulate the polymicrobiality of oral disease are important in the development of new chemotherapeutic agents. In order to do this accurately we require the ability to undertake compositional analysis, in addition to determine individual cell viability, ...

BACKGROUND Oral polymicrobial interactions and biofilm formation are associated with initiation and progression of caries, gingivitis, and periodontitis. Transcriptome studies of such interactions, allowing a first mechanistic insight, are hampered by current single-species array designs. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS In this study we used 385 K NimbleGene™ technology for design and evaluati...

Biofilm-related infections can develop everywhere in the human body and are rarely cleared by the host immune system. Moreover, biofilms are often tolerant to antimicrobials, due to a combination of inherent properties of bacteria in their adhering, biofilm mode of growth and poor physical penetration of antimicrobials through biofilms. Current understanding of biofilm recalcitrance toward anti...

Our understanding of dental plaque biofilm has evolved since the nonspecific plaque hypothesis that considered plaque as a nonspecific mass of native microorganisms that, because of lack of oral hygiene, builds up in proportions great enough to overcome the host resistance threshold and affect the tooth structure and tooth supporting tissues. A great diversity of microorganisms-over 700 species...