The microbiome of dental and peri-implant subgingival plaque during peri-implant mucositis therapy: A randomized clinical trialOriginal paper
Karen Pendergrass is a microbiome researcher specializing in microbiome-targeted interventions (MBTIs). She systematically analyzes scientific literature to identify microbial patterns, develop hypotheses, and validate interventions. As the founder of the Microbiome Signatures Database, she bridges microbiome research with clinical practice. In 2012, based on her own investigative research, she became the first documented case of FMT for Celiac Disease, four years before the first published case study.
Read MoreWhat was studied?
This randomized clinical trial examined how mechanical debridement combined with an adjunctive mouthrinse affects the subgingival and submucosal plaque microbiome at sites with peri-implant mucositis and gingivitis. Patients received debridement plus one month of either delmopinol, chlorhexidine (CHX), or a placebo mouthrinse. Plaque samples from implants and teeth were collected at baseline and at 1 and 3 months, then profiled using 16S V4 rRNA gene amplicon sequencing.
Who was studied?
Eighty-nine patients with peri-implant mucositis were enrolled in this double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled trial. Each patient contributed patient-matched samples from both peri-implant and dental sites, allowing direct within-person comparison of the two microbial niches. No further demographic details are given in the abstract.
What were the most important findings?
Sites with peri-implant mucositis harbored a less diverse and less anaerobic microbiome than dental sites with gingivitis, despite eliciting an equal inflammatory response. Even at healthy sites, the microbiome around teeth was more diverse and more anaerobe-rich than the microbiome around implants. Adjunctive delmopinol or CHX, but not placebo, produced measurable microbial changes after one month, while mechanical debridement affected both dental and peri-implant biofilms.
What are the greatest implications of this study?
The findings suggest that peri-implant and dental biofilms are ecologically distinct even under comparable inflammatory conditions, meaning peri-implant mucositis should not simply be treated as an implant-site analog of gingivitis. This ecological difference may help explain why peri-implant disease can behave differently from periodontal disease despite similar clinical inflammation. The results also support that antimicrobial mouthrinses, rather than debridement alone, contribute meaningfully to shifting the microbiome during peri-implant mucositis therapy.