Researchers discover harmful oral bacteria that cause other diseases

A team of researchers has identified the bacteria most typically found in severe oral infections, a discovery that could shed more light on the link between oral bacteria and other diseases.

Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria, and Actinobacteria were found to be the most frequent bacteria, whereas Streptococcus spp, Prevotella spp, and Staphylococcus spp were the most common genera. Previous research has found obvious links between oral health and prevalent diseases like cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden analysed samples obtained from patients with severe oral infections at Karolinska University Hospital in Sweden between 2010 and 2020 and developed a list of the most prevalent bacteria. “We’re reporting here, for the first time, the microbial composition of bacterial infections from samples collected over a ten-year period in Stockholm County,” says professor Sallberg Chen of Karolinska Institute’s Department of Dental Medicine.

“The results show that several bacterial infections with links to systemic diseases are constantly present and some have even increased over the past decade in Stockholm,” the researchers wrote in the journal Microbiology Spectrum.

“Our results provide new insight into the diversity and prevalence of harmful microbes in oral infections,” Chen added. “If a certain bacterium infects and causes damage in the mouth, it’s very likely that it can be harmful to tissues elsewhere in the body as the infection spreads,” the researcher explained.