title: Role of microbial biofilms in the maintenance of oral health and in the development of dental caries and periodontal diseases. Consensus report of group 1 of the Joint EFP/ORCA workshop on the boundaries between caries and periodontal disease.
abstract: The scope of this working group was to review (1) ecological interactions at the dental biofilm in health and disease, (2) the role of microbial communities in the pathogenesis of periodontitis and caries, and (3) the innate host response in caries and periodontal diseases.
  
  
  
  A health-associated biofilm includes genera such as Neisseria, Streptococcus, Actinomyces, Veillonella and Granulicatella. Microorganisms associated with both caries and periodontal diseases are metabolically highly specialized and organized as multispecies microbial biofilms. Progression of these diseases involves multiple microbial interactions driven by different stressors. In caries, the exposure of dental biofilms to dietary sugars and their fermentation to organic acids results in increasing proportions of acidogenic and aciduric species. In gingivitis, plaque accumulation at the gingival margin leads to inflammation and increasing proportions of proteolytic and often obligately anaerobic species. The natural mucosal barriers and saliva are the main innate defence mechanisms against soft tissue bacterial invasion. Similarly, enamel and dentin are important hard tissue barriers to the caries process. Given that the present state of knowledge suggests that the aetiologies of caries and periodontal diseases are mutually independent, the elements of innate immunity that appear to contribute to resistance to both are somewhat coincidental.
authors.affiliation: ETEP (Etiolgy and Therapy of Periodontal Diseases) Research Group, University Complutense, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Mariano
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sanz
authors.affiliation: King's College London School of Medical Education, London, UK.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Beighton
authors.affiliation: Microbiology, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Curtis
authors.affiliation: Piracicaba Dental School, UNICAM, Piracicaba, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Jaime A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Cury
authors.affiliation: Department of Dentistry and Oral Health, Faculty of Health, Aarhus Universitet, Aarhus C, Denmark.
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Dige
authors.affiliation: Charite, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Henrik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dommisch
authors.affiliation: Manchester University, Manchester, UK.
authors.forename: Roger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ellwood
authors.affiliation: Oral Rehabilitation, University of Talca, Talca, Chile.
authors.forename: Rodrigo A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Giacaman
authors.affiliation: ETEP (Etiolgy and Therapy of Periodontal Diseases) Research Group, University Complutense, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Herrera
authors.affiliation: University of Minnesota School of Dentistry, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
authors.forename: Mark C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Herzberg
authors.affiliation: Periodontology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: Eija
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Könönen
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Biology, School of Dentistry, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.
authors.forename: Philip D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Marsh
authors.affiliation: Periodontology, University of Giessen, Giessen, Germany.
authors.forename: Joerg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Meyle
authors.affiliation: Centre for Advanced Research in Public Health, FISABIO Foundation, Valencia, Spain.
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mira
authors.affiliation: ETEP (Etiolgy and Therapy of Periodontal Diseases) Research Group, University Complutense, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Molina
authors.affiliation: Periodontology, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mombelli
authors.affiliation: Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Quirynen
authors.affiliation: Oral Health Cooperative Research Centre, Melbourne Dental School, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Eric C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Reynolds
authors.affiliation: Periodontology, Hebrew University and Hadassah Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel.
authors.forename: Lior
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Shapira
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Dentistry, Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam (ACTA), Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Egija
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Zaura
mesh_terms: D018441:Biofilms; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000382:microbiology*; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D006801:Humans; D009909:Oral Health; D010518:Periodontitis / Q000382:microbiology*
keywords: caries; dental biofilm; dysbiosis; innate host responses; microbial interactions; periodontal diseases; symbiosis