IRAPT microbiome

Periodontitis is a highly prevalent chronic oral inflammatory condition, arising via the formation of dysbiotic subgingival plaque biofilms. Current treatment involves hand or ultrasonic instruments, often used interchangeably based on patient or clinician preference. This study sought to investigate whether the subgingival plaque microbiota differed following hand and ultrasonic instrumentation.For that, thirty-eight patients received full-mouth debridement using hand (n=20) or ultrasonic instrumentation (n=18). Subgingival plaque was sampled at baseline and 1, 7 and 90 days following treatment. Bacterial DNA was analysed using 16S rRNA sequencing (Illumina MiSeq).Biofilm composition was similar at day 1, 7 and 90 in both groups (all genera; [adjusted]>0.05). However, large-scale compositional changes were observed within-groups. At day 1 and 7, there was a clear shift towards an aerobe-dominated microbiota, with health-associated genera; Streptococcus, Actinomyces and Rothia equating to approximately 50% of the total composition. When reassessed at day 90, a subset of samples displayed a microbiota more comparable with baseline (highly diverse, anaerobe-dominated). This reformation appeared surprisingly independent of instrumentation choice and clinical response.In conclusion, the choice of hand or ultrasonic instrumentation induced comparable impacts on the subgingival plaque microbiome. Future studies should establish whether reformation of the microbiota may precede future disease progression.