Tongue Microbiota and Oral Health Status in Community-Dwelling Elderly Adults

• DOI: 10.1128/msphere.00332-18
• Publication Date: 2018-08-07T09:44:04Z
• Authors: Mikari Asakawa; Toru Takeshita; Michiko Furuta; Shinya Kageyama; Kenji Takeuchi; Jun Hata; Toshiharu Ninomiya; Yoshihisa Yamashita
• Keywords: DNA, Bacterial; dental; Oral Health; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; elderly; Microbiology; DNA, Ribosomal; oral; 03 medical and health sciences; Japan; Tongue; tongue; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; microbiota; Cluster Analysis; Humans; Aged; 2. Zero hunger; 0303 health sciences; Bacteria; Microbiota; Fungi; High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; Sequence Analysis, DNA; community-dwelling; QR1-502; 3. Good health; Independent Living; Research Article

Aspiration of oral contents can lead to pneumonia, which is a major cause of death among elderly adults susceptible to swallowing impairments. Tongue microbiota are a dominant source of oral microbial populations that are ingested with saliva. This large-scale population-based study revealed variations in the tongue microbiota among community-dwelling elderly adults. The total bacterial density was independent of the conditions of teeth surrounding the tongue, whereas the microbiota composition, especially the relative abundances of predominant commensals, showed an association with tooth conditions. Our results demonstrate that the elderly with fewer teeth, poorer dental hygiene, and more dental caries experience constantly ingest more dysbiotic microbiota, which could be harmful for their respiratory health.