Investigating oral microbiome profiles of children with cleft lip and palate in different states of caries.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the characteristics of oral salivary microbiota in children with cleft lip and palate (CLP) under different states of caries.

METHODS

Based on the presence or absence of CLP and the total number of decayed, missing and filled surfaces, 105 participants were divided into four groups: children with CLP and high caries (CLP-HC), children with CLP and low caries (CLP-LC), children without CLP but with high caries (NCLP-HC) and children without CLP but with low caries (NCLP-LC). Saliva samples from them were analyzed using 16S rRNA gene sequencing.

RESULTS

Alpha diversity differed significantly among the four groups with Ace and Chao indices, but not with Shannon and Simpson. Principal coordinate analysis based on the Weighted-UniFrac distance matrix showed no significant differences among the four groups, while results from the Unweighted-UniFrac distance matrix revealed significant differences. CLP-HC and CLP-LC had significantly higher Microbial Dysbiosis Index than NCLP-LC. LEfSe analysis was performed for pairwise comparisons, identifying differentially enriched bacterial genera among groups. Network analysis based on Spearman correlation revealed the interaction characteristics of microbial communities in different groups.

CONCLUSIONS

Differences in microbial features were observed among the four groups, which could provide new insights for personalized oral health management for CLP patients.