Lactiplantibacillus Plantarum CCFM8724 Reduces the Amounts of Oral Pathogens and Alters the Oral Microbiota in Children With Dental Caries: a Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial

Abstract

Objective Early childhood caries (ECC) is closely related to the disorders of oral microbiota. Probiotics antagonize pathogenic bacteria and regulate the composition of the microbiota. We aimed to investigate the effects of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum CCFM8724 on Streptococcus mutans, Candida albicans, and oral microbiota of patients.

Methods Children with ECC aged 3‒6 years were randomly divided into probiotic and placebo groups in the double-blind controlled trial. The intervention and washout periods were 28 days and 14 days, respectively. On days 1 and 28, dental plaques were collected. The effects of L. plantarum CCFM8724 on the oral microbiota of patients were investigated by sequencing the V3-V4 region of 16S rDNA. On days 1, 14, 28 and 42, qPCR was used to investigate the effect of L. plantarum CCFM8724 on the amounts of S. mutans and C. albicans in the saliva of children with ECC.

Results L. plantarum CCFM8724 significantly reduced the amounts of S. mutans and C. albicans in saliva of children with ECC (p < 0.01). After consumption of L. plantarum CCFM8724, the abundance of Firmicutes, Granulicatella and Gemella increased, whereas the abundance of Proteobacteria, Neisseria, Bifidobacterium and Catonella decreased. Conclusion: Our results emphasize that probiotics could play a beneficial role in the prevention and treatment of ECC in children from an oral microecological perspective.

Keywords:

• Probiotic
• Lactiplantibacillus plantarum
• early childhood caries
• pathogens
• oral microbiota

Availability of data and materials

Data used to support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethics approval

The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and approved by the Ethics Committee of Wuxi Children’s Hospital (WXCH2020-11-001). The registration number in the Chinese Clinical Registration Center was ChiCTR2100047849.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 32072197 and 32021005), Wuxi Science and Technology Development Fund Project (grant no. WX18IIAN026) and Collaborative Innovation Center of Food Safety and Quality Control in Jiangsu Province.