Longitudinal Microbiome Changes in Supragingival Biofilm Transcriptomes Induced by Orthodontics

Common oral diseases are known to be associated with dysbiotic shifts in the supragingival microbiome, yet most oral microbiome associations with clinical end points emanate from cross-sectional studies. Orthodontic treatment is an elective procedure that can be exploited to prospectively examine clinically relevant longitudinal changes in the composition and function of the supragingival microbiome.

A longitudinal cohort study was conducted among 24 adolescent orthodontic patients who underwent saliva and plaque sampling and clinical examinations at time points: before fixed appliance bonding and at 1, 6, and 12 wk thereafter. Clinical indices included bleeding on probing (BOP), mean gingival index (GI), probing depths (PDs), and plaque index (PI). To study the biologically (i.e., transcriptionally) active microbial communities, RNA was extracted from plaque and saliva for RNA sequencing and microbiome bioinformatics analysis. Longitudinal changes in microbiome beta diversity were examined using PERMANOVA tests, and the relative abundance of microbial taxa was measured using Kruskal-Wallis tests, Wilcoxon rank-sum tests, and negative binomial and zero-inflated mixed models.

Clinical measures of oral health deteriorated over time-the proportion of sites with GI and PI ≥1 increased by over 70% between prebonding and 12 wk postbonding while the proportion of sites with PD ≥4 mm increased 2.5-fold. Streptococcus sanguinis, a health-associated species that antagonizes cariogenic pathogens, showed a lasting decrease in relative abundance during orthodontic treatment. Contrarily, caries- and periodontal disease-associated taxa, including Selenomonas sputigena, Leptotrichia wadei, and Lachnoanaerobaculum saburreum, increased in abundance after bonding. Relative abundances of Stomatobaculum longum and Mogibacterium diversum in prebonding saliva predicted elevated BOP 12 wk postbonding, whereas Neisseria subflava was associated with lower BOP.

This study offers insights into longitudinal community and species-specific changes in the supragingival microbiome transcriptome during fixed orthodontic treatment, advancing our understanding of microbial dysbioses and identifying targets of future health-promoting clinical investigations.

Bonding braces was associated with subsequent changes in the oral microbiome characterized by increases in disease-associated species, decreases in health-associated species, and worsened clinical measures of oral health.