Microbial signatures of health, gingivitis, and periodontitis.

Abstract in brief

• The study investigates how microbial communities in the subgingival crevice change across different stages of periodontal health, gingivitis, and periodontitis, and whether these communities protect against or promote disease progression.
• By reanalyzing publicly available data with unified methods, the research found distinct microbial signatures for health, gingivitis, and periodontitis, with more species present in diseased states, although gingivitis had higher diversity than periodontitis.
• The findings suggest that periodontal disease involves a microbial succession process, where specific bacterial species become dominant as the condition worsens, helping to identify bacteria associated with each stage of periodontal health decline.