The Deadly Combo: Nicotine, and Diabetes Are Aiding Periodontitis

by Cesar Cortez

Figure taken from Ganesan et al. 2017. 

The following figure shows the different values of the oral environments that were tested. It also shows the correlation between relative abundance of microbes in the oral cavity, and periodontally healthy nonsmoker, periodontally healthy smokers, and smokers who have periodontitis. 

Have you ever tried pasting back together a broken piece of porcelain that was accidentally dropped, yet you end up making it worse? In Ganesan and colleagues article “A Tale of two risks: smoking, diabetes and the subgingival microbiome” one can observe that Periodontitis, is an oral diseases that is affected by different environmental stresses. Also, Ganesan and colleagues analyze the different interactions between smoking, diabetes, and their effect on the oral microbiome. Moreover, their objective was to perform a series of tests where subjects possessed a different oral microbial environment; Periodontally healthy nonsmoker, Periodontally healthy smoker, and smoker with periodontitis. In the case of this study people who smoked, and were diabetic, were highly vulnerable to contract periodontitis via the dysbiosis of the subgingival microbial ecosystem. Future studies will focus on smoking and diabetic individuals who possess periodontitis and how the different oral microbiomes can be genetically enhanced to combat the disease. Periodontitis, although rare, through habitual smoking and hereditary diabetes only increases the probability of affecting more individuals. Therefore, oral hygiene is essential for our future.

Original Article:

 Ganesan SM, Vinayak J, Fellows M, Dabdoub SM, Nagaraja HN, O’Donnell B, Deshpande NR, Kumar PS. (2017). A tale of two risks: smoking, diabetes and subgingival microbiome. ISME Journal 11: 2075-2089.