Comprehensive Microbiome Analyses for Regenerative Endodontic Therapy

Comprehensive microbiome analyses include the study of all microbial taxa, including bacteria, archaea, viruses, and fungi, as well as their functional activities and antibiotic resistance gene expression. Regenerative endodontic therapy (RET) presents a clinical situation where the most effective antimicrobial approaches are needed in order to ensure clinical success. In this paper, different contemporary technologies for the identification of endodontic microorganisms, such as with next generation sequencing (NGS), and their functional characterization, such as with whole genome sequencing (WGS), are described. The role of transcriptomics, as well as resistome analysis, are also discussed. Furthermore, the manner in which all this work and knowledge could be incorporated into clinical endodontics in general, and RET as a special treatment, is outlined.