Therapies Across a Lifespan: Effects on Oral and Systemic Systems

A comprehensive understanding of the interactions between oral and systemic therapies is essential for evaluating their impact on health throughout the human lifespan. As medical and dental treatment strategies advance, research increasingly reveals that interventions may have effects that extend beyond their intended targets. For instance, oral therapies can influence systemic health, while systemic therapies may have consequences for oral health. These bidirectional effects are modulated by numerous factors, including age, genetic background, environmental exposures, and lifestyle choices. As a result, there is considerable variability between individuals and sometimes unpredictable therapeutic outcomes.

Significant progress has been made in recognising the link between oral health and systemic disease, especially as populations age. However, many mechanisms underlying these relationships remain to be clarified. This indicates a continued need for research focused on characterising both beneficial and adverse interactions between oral and systemic therapies.

This Research Topic aims to advance our understanding of how interventions targeting oral health may produce systemic effects, and how systemic treatments may impact oral health across the lifespan. Particularly important are the ways these therapeutic interactions are influenced by age-related physiological changes, alterations in the microbiome, and the natural aging process. By investigating both intended and unintended therapeutic effects, we hope to contribute to the development of more precise and individualised treatment strategies that consider patient variability and age-related changes. Ultimately, this will support improved health outcomes.

We invite submissions that examine the mechanisms by which oral and systemic therapies exert local and systemic effects throughout life and that identify previously unrecognised interactions. Topics may include, but are not limited to:
• The role of individual factors, such as genetics, environment, diet, and lifestyle, on the effectiveness of oral versus systemic therapies.
• Comparative studies on the effects of therapies used in oral and systemic health, including short- and long-term impacts.
• The influence of aging on therapeutic outcomes, including immune, genetic, and microbiota modifications.
• Technological tools for assessing biological functions and impacts of therapies over time.

Submissions should provide rigorous insights into the short-term and long-term effects on oral versus systemic tissues, including changes in therapeutic responsiveness with aging.

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
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• ... 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
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• 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-systemic effects, off-target therapy, aging, genetics, microbiota, therapeutic effectiveness, systems integration

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.