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

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 , 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 fluctuated over the course of the five phases, with a significant increase in PII ( = 0.01), decreasing in PIII and PIV (PIII and PIV versus PII: