Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2017;4(4):309-318.
doi: 10.1007/s40496-017-0159-6. Epub 2017 Oct 19.

Use of Probiotics and Oral Health

Robert P Allaker  1 , Abish S Stephen  1
Affiliations
Review

Use of Probiotics and Oral Health

Robert P Allaker et al. Curr Oral Health Rep. 2017.

Abstract

Purpose of review: The purpose of this study is to critically assess recent studies concerning the use of probiotics to control periodontal diseases, dental caries and halitosis (oral malodour).

Recent findings: Clinical studies have shown that probiotics when allied to conventional periodontal treatment can ameliorate microbial dysbiosis and produce significant improvement in clinical indicators of disease. However, this effect is often not maintained by the host after the end of probiotic use. Current probiotics also show limited effects in treating caries and halitosis. Novel approaches based up on replacement therapy and using highly abundant health-associated oral species, including nitrate-reducing bacteria, have been proposed to improve persistence of probiotic strains and maintain oral health benefits.

Summary: Probiotics have potential in the management of multifactorial diseases such as the periodontal diseases and caries, by more effectively addressing the host-microbial interface to restore homeostasis that may not be achieved with conventional treatments.

Keywords: Caries; Microbiome; Nitric oxide; Oral malodour; Periodontal diseases; Probiotics.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest

Both authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

References

    1. Rosan B, Lamont RJ. Dental plaque formation. Microbes Infect. 2000;2:1599–1607. doi: 10.1016/S1286-4579(00)01316-2. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Allaker RP, Douglas CWI. Non-conventional therapeutics for oral infections. Virulence. 2015;6:196–207. doi: 10.4161/21505594.2014.983783. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Devine DA, Marsh PD. Prospects for the development of probiotics and prebiotics for oral applications. J Oral Microbiol. 2009;1:1–11. doi: 10.3402/jom.v1i0.1949. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Meurman JH. Probiotics: do they have a role in oral medicine and dentistry? Eur J Oral Sci. 2005;113:188–196. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0722.2005.00191.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Devine DA, Marsh PD, Meade J. Modulation of host responses by oral commensal bacteria. J Oral Microbiol. 2015;7(1):26941. doi: 10.3402/jom.v7.26941. - DOI - PMC - PubMed