REVIEW article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Systems Microbiology
This article is part of the Research TopicProbiotics and Bioactive Agents in Modulating Harmful Oral BiofilmsView all 10 articles
Bacterial colonization of bone substitute materials used in oral surgery: mechanisms, clinical implications, and preventive strategies – a narrative review
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Oral Surgery, Warszawski Uniwersytet Medyczny, Warsaw, Poland
- 2Faculty of Biology, Institute of Microbiology, Department of Applied Microbiology, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
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The advancement of tissue engineering and the development of novel biomaterials have opened new possibilities for the effective treatment of patients with edentulism and other dental deficiencies, as well as for the prosthetic reconstruction and functional rehabilitation of the stomatognathic system. Bone substitute materials are now widely used in orthopedics, reconstructive surgery, and dentistry to support the regeneration of bone tissue lost due to trauma, inflammation, or tooth extraction. However, surgical procedures within the oral cavity inherently carry a risk of postoperative infection, which can impair healing and compromise treatment outcomes. Unlike natural bone regeneration, bone healing following grafting functions as a repair process that may involve partial resorption of the graft material. Such bone deficiencies can hinder prosthetic reconstruction, making the use of bone substitute materials essential for guided bone regeneration. Bone substitutes can be classified as autogenous, allogenic, xenogenic, or alloplastic, each exhibiting distinct osteoinductive and osteoconductive properties. This review discusses the biological and clinical characteristics of these material groups, with particular attention to their susceptibility to colonization by bacterial strains commonly found in the human oral cavity. It also highlights the risks associated with bacterial biofilm formation and examines its implications for the oral microbiome under dysbiotic conditions.
Keywords: oral cavity, Guided bone regeneration, Bone substitute material, Oral surgery, colonization, Bacterial strains, Microbial colonization, Bacterial biofilm
Received: 29 Sep 2025; Accepted: 31 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Popowski, Koseski, Domanowska, Zalewska and Popowska. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Wojciech Popowski, wojciech.popowski@wum.edu.pl
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