Changes in the oral status and periodontal pathogens in a Sardinian rural community from pre-industrial to modern time

Abstract

The oral microbial profile in humans has evolved in response to lifestyle changes over the course of different eras. Here, we investigated tooth lesions and the microbial profile of periodontal bacteria (PB) in dental calculus of a Sardinian pre-industrial rural community. In total, 51 teeth belonging to 12 historical individuals buried in an ossuary in the early 1800s and 26 modern teeth extracted from 26 individuals from the same geographical area were compared to determine the oral health status, bacterial load and amount of most relevant PB. Total caries and bacterial genomes count appeared to be sex-related in historical samples. Historical females presented a higher incidence of caries, PB pathogens and a higher bacterial load than historical males. Furthermore, we compared the PB profile of the historical individuals with the modern ones, revealing a notable increase in modern individuals of PB belonging to “Red complex bacteria” often associated with periodontitis and other chronic diseases of modern life. Our findings could be explained through an analysis of environmental factors such as socioeconomic, hygienic and healthy conditions that can have a great impact on oral health and bacterial composition among individuals of the same and different eras.