Nutrition and Oral Microbiology: Integrative Perspectives for Improved Oral Health

About this Research Topic

Background

Oral health and nutrition are deeply interconnected. Recent advances in oral health research have highlighted the complex roles of oral microorganisms in maintaining oral and systemic health. Nutrition, encompassing dietary patterns, nutrients, and functional foods, is a major driver of oral microbial ecology and influences both health and disease. At the same time, growing antimicrobial resistance underscores the need for innovative, non-antibiotic therapeutic approaches based on microbiological and nutritional sciences.

This Research Topic aims to explore the broad landscape connecting nutrition, microbiology and oral health. We welcome research on the full spectrum of oral microorganisms (from individual species to complex communities), their interactions with diet and nutritional components, and the resulting impacts on oral health and disease. We invite contributions that span molecular, microbiological, clinical, and epidemiological perspectives.

We particularly encourage submissions that address, but are not limited to, the following themes:

• The effects of specific diets (vegan, vegetarian, omnivorous, etc.) or nutritional components (e.g., vitamin D, zinc, antioxidants) on oral microorganisms (including studies on single species—Streptococcus, Candida—or broader microbial communities).
• Interactions between functional foods (e.g., pre-/pro-/synbiotics, polyphenol-rich foods, fiber) and oral microbiology in the management of caries, periodontal disease, mucositis, oral cancer, and other oral conditions.
• Mechanistic, molecular, or culture-based investigations of how nutritional factors influence oral microbial colonization, composition, or pathogenic potential.
• Cohort studies and clinical trials on nutritional interventions targeting oral microorganisms, oral infections, and disease outcomes.
• Research exploring the role of micronutrients or dietary supplements in oral microbial ecology.
• Personalized nutrition strategies for oral health, including those addressing disease prevention (e.g., caries, periodontitis, oral cancer).
• Epidemiological studies evaluating links between dietary patterns, oral microbial profiles, and oral disease risk.
• Disease-focused studies exploring single-pathogen (or small groups of pathogens) responses to dietary/nutritional changes.
• Work on the molecular or microbiological links between gastrointestinal microbiota and oral health is also welcome, provided relevance to oral health is central.

Examples of relevant research include, but are not limited to:

• The impact of zinc supplementation on Candida albicans colonization and oral candidiasis.
• The role of probiotics, such as Lactobacillus or Bifidobacterium, in modulating oral microbial ecology and reducing caries or periodontal inflammation.
• Investigations of dietary links to periodontal pathogens and oral cancer-promoting microorganisms.
• Microbiological or molecular studies exploring relationships between oral hygiene products (with nutritional or probiotic ingredients), oral flora, and mucosal health.

Our overarching mission is to foster research that merges nutritional and microbiological sciences to advance the prevention and management of oral disease, ultimately reducing reliance on antibiotics.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Conceptual Analysis
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
• Data Report
• Editorial
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Conceptual Analysis
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
• Data Report
• Editorial
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: oral microbiome, nutrition and oral health, probiotics and oral health, diet and mouth bacteria, functional foods for gums, vegan diet microbiome, personalized nutrition oral health, antimicrobial resistance solutions

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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