Illuminating root canal microbiome
A recent study may have uncovered insights into the root canal microbiome on the basis of lesion size.
In the study, published in the Journal of Endodontics, researchers used quantitative polymerase chain reaction, 16S next-generation sequencing and whole-genome sequencing to analyze the microbial load, diversity and composition of samples from 45 endodontically treated teeth with either large or small periapical lesions.
The researchers found that although the teeth with large periapical lesions demonstrated a greater bacterial load compared with those with small periapical lesions, the alpha diversity and number of species per group was similar between both lesion sizes. Lesion size was a significant factor in analysis of similarities tests but not in permutational multivariate analysis of variance tests. Further, beta diversity assessments revealed that while age was an important factor, effect size accounted for just a small percentage of the variance.
The researchers indicated that bacterial metabolic activity — including the enrichment of enzymatic pathways involving the metabolism of methionine and cysteine — could be associated with clinical variables such as percussion sensitivity in patients with endodontic infections.
Read more: Journal of Endodontics
The article presented here is intended to inform you about the broader media perspective on dentistry, regardless of its alignment with the ADA's stance. It is important to note that publication of an article does not imply the ADA's endorsement, agreement, or promotion of its content.