TY - JOUR AU - Wang, Bing-Yan AU - Lu, Tom AU - Cai, Qiuyin AU - Ho, Meng-Hsuan AU - Sheng, Sally AU - Meng, Hsiu-Wan AU - Arsto, Laura AU - Hong, Jianming AU - Xie, Hua PY - 2021 M3 - Original Research TI - Potential Microbiological Risk Factors Associated With Periodontitis and Periodontal Health Disparities JO - Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology UR - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcimb.2021.789919 VL - 11 SN - 2235-2988 N2 - Periodontitis disproportionately affects different racial and ethnic populations. In this study, we used qPCR to determine and compare oral microbial profiles in dental plaque samples from 191 periodontitis patients of different ethnic/racial backgrounds. We also obtained the periodontal parameters of these patients retrospectively using axiUm and performed statistical analysis using SAS 9.4. We found that in this patient cohort, neighborhood median incomes were significantly higher among Caucasians Americans (CAs) than among African Americans (AAs) and Hispanic Americans (HAs). Levels of total bacteria and Porphyromonas gingivalis, a keystone periodontal pathogen, were not evenly distributed among the three groups. We confirmed our previous findings that Streptococcus cristatus reduces P. gingivalis virulence potential and likely serves as a beneficial bacterium. We also showed the ratio of S. cristatus to P. gingivalis to be significantly higher in CAs than in HAs and AAs. Our results suggest that higher levels of P. gingivalis and lower ratios of S. cristatus to P. gingivalis may contribute to periodontal health disparities. ER -