Читать книгу Applied Oral Physiology - Robin Wilding - Страница 62

Introduction

The Oral Environment

The Biofilms of the Oral Environment

Oral Ecology and Dental Caries

Nutrition and Oral Ecology

The Influence of Fluorides on the Oral Ecosystem

Mucosal Immunity and Oral Ecology

Abstract

The oral cavity provides a variety of niche habitats for hundreds of species of oral bacteria. There are potential habitats on the teeth, tongue, or gingival sulcus and a constant supply of nutrients from food residues, saliva, and the products of other bacteria. The human host and its bacterial partners in the oral cavity and gut have a cooperative relationship which goes back millions of years. Cooperation between different bacterial species is just as important as competition in conserving this relationship; their interdependence holds together several different species in a consortium, a sort of mutual benefit community. If dental caries or periodontal disease occurs, it is always due to a disturbance in the dominance or hierarchy of bacteria within the consortium, often caused by something as simple as an increase of sugar in the diet, or at the other extreme, malnutrition. All the members of the consortium are well-established residents, so dental caries and periodontal disease are not the result of foreign pathogens but may be classified as noncommunicable diseases. The balance between the efforts of organisms to maintain growth on the oral surfaces, by both competitive and cooperative tactics, and the host’s factors which tend to support and tolerate certain commensals, but inhibit potential pathogens, is the theme of this chapter. Oral health strategies, which work best, are those based on an understanding of the principal factors which regulate and maintain a stable oral microbiome.

Keywords: oral environment, oral ecology, salivary pellicle, oral fluids, gingival fluid, dental plaque, calculus, dental caries, diet and caries, nutrition and oral health, fluorides, mucosal immunity, oral tolerance