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. 2025 Apr 29;17(1):37.
doi: 10.1038/s41368-025-00367-7.

Community dynamics during de novo colonization of the nascent peri-implant sulcus

Tamires Pereira Dutra  1 , Nicolas Robitaille  2 , Khaled Altabtbaei  3 , Shareef M Dabdoub #  4   5 , Purnima S Kumar #  6
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Community dynamics during de novo colonization of the nascent peri-implant sulcus

Tamires Pereira Dutra et al. Int J Oral Sci. .

Abstract

Dental implants have restored masticatory function to over 100 000 000 individuals, yet almost 1 000 000 implants fail each year due to peri-implantitis, a disease triggered by peri-implant microbial dysbiosis. Our ability to prevent and treat peri-implantitis is hampered by a paucity of knowledge of how these biomes are acquired and the factors that engender normobiosis. Therefore, we combined a 3-month interventional study of 15 systemically and periodontally healthy adults with whole genome sequencing, fine-scale enumeration and graph theoretics to interrogate colonization dynamics in the pristine peri-implant sulcus. We discovered that colonization trajectories of implants differ substantially from adjoining teeth in acquisition of new members and development of functional synergies. Source-tracking algorithms revealed that this niche is initially seeded by bacteria trapped within the coverscrew chamber during implant placement. These pioneer species stably colonize the microbiome and exert a sustained influence on the ecosystem by serving as anchors of influential hubs and by providing functions that enable cell replication and biofilm maturation. Unlike the periodontal microbiome, recruitment of new members to the peri-implant community occurs on nepotistic principles. Maturation is accompanied by a progressive increase in anaerobiosis, however, the predominant functionalities are oxygen-dependent over the 12-weeks. The peri-implant community is easily perturbed following crown placement, but demonstrates remarkable resilience; returning to pre-perturbation states within three weeks. This study highlights important differences in the development of the periodontal and peri-implant ecosystems, and signposts the importance of placing implants in periodontally healthy individuals or following the successful resolution of periodontal disease.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None of the authors have any competing interests to declare. This study was supported by National Institutes of Health award R03DE027492 to Shareef Dabdoub. Tamires Pereira Dutra is supported by R01DE027857-06 from the National Institutes of Health. The sequencing and data analysis was supported by National Institutes of Health R56DE033913 awarded to Purnima Kumar

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The coverscrew chamber as a source of pioneer species of the peri-implant microbiome Fig. 1 is the sources of the pioneer species in the pristine implant sulcus. The implant and tooth at the uncovery visit (baseline) were set as the sources and implant at 24 hours as the sink (P < 0.05, Kruskal-Wallis test). Bacteria that was not trackable to the input sources are binned to the group “environment”. Boxplots not connected by same letter are significantly different
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Clinical study design
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