The Invisible Community
I’m indeed very grateful that the millions and millions of microbes residing inside of our mouths are invisible to the naked eye. Imagine what we might otherwise see each time a person were to open their mouth to laugh or talk, to yawn or share a kiss!
No less than three factors come into play. As Krauter said, we now know that, “the most abundant bugs that are living in your mouth are dependent upon what you eat, who you kiss, how often you brush your teeth.”
It’s a jungle in there! This “jungle”, this wealth of bacteria and other microbes, is what we call the, “oral microbiome”. It’s a phrase that can be picked apart with ease. In the mouth, or the “oral cavity” we find many tiny (micro-) organisms. These organisms constitute a “biome”, the collective term for a group of organisms that live together and are adapted to a specific suite of [environmental] conditions.
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The oral microbiome is not as large as that of the gut. However, its importance is extraordinary as it is essential not just to the maintenance of the health of the mouth, but also our overall systemic health. The key to any healthy community is a balance of its residents and ideally, each of our mouths hosts a variety of micro-organisms which live in a healthy balance. Many things however can affect that balance.
For example, did you know that we produce about 3 pints (1,400 ml or 1.4L) of saliva per day, containing more than a 100 million micro-organisms per milliliter? Hormonal shifts, the introduction of certain pharmaceuticals and of course, being dehydrated can all impact saliva production.
Or, did you know that more than 700 different species of bacteria can be found in the mouth in addition to viruses, parasites and protozoa? They colonize both the hard surfaces of our teeth and our gums (also called gingiva or mucosa). In addition to saliva, the microorganisms that make up a healthy oral microbiome play a significant role in helping to maintain a near neutral pH in the mouth. These micro-organisms, or more precisely the bi-products of their existence in the mouth, also play an important role in the remineralization of our teeth.
What about this? Did you know that our saliva is supersaturated with phosphate, hydroxyl ions and calcium? Or, that this is key to a (re)mineralization process that is integral to reversing early carious lesions? Lesions that without intervention can provide a path for organisms that would normally reside in the mouth to venture forth and make their way throughout the body, to points of least resistance.
Maybe you’ve had your teeth cleaned recently by a dental hygienist. Perhaps you heard mention of “pockets”. Pockets in the mouth? They can broadly be broken down into two types, for starters; gingival pockets and periodontal pockets. The former will likely be present in the early stages of gum disease (gingivitis, or inflammation of the gingiva), while the latter are found in the more advanced stages of gingivitis called periodontitis. These niches, these pockets, offer unexpected types of habitats for micro-organisms that can, and do, alter the oral microbiome.
