Pediatrics World Conference 2026

Abstract

Two major oral diseases may affect body health: caries and periodontal disease.

In 1891, the first oral microbiologist W.D. Miller put forward the theory of oral focal infections, suggesting that oral microbial infection can affect other parts of the body, related to a variety of systemic diseases. Frank Billings speculated that the

infection of teeth may be the cause of rheumatoid arthritis, nephritis, endocarditis, and other diseases. Proponents of this theory believe that dental plaque and its metabolites can enter the blood circulatory system and cause a variety of systemic or degenerative changes. Over 700 kinds of microorganisms are colonized in the human oral cavity. The oral microbiome is one of the most important and complex microbial communities in the human body and is also one of the five research priorities (oral cavity, nasal cavity, vagina, intestine, skin) of the human microbiome project (HMP).

Periodontitis became prevalent during the transition from hunter–gatherer to Neolithic farming societies (∼10,000 years ago), coinciding with dietary changes and

a compositional shift of the oral microbiota to a community enriched in periodontitis-associated bacteria, including A. actinomycetemcomitans and Porphyromonas gingivalis. This oral disease remains a major public health and socioeconomic burden and afflicts, in its severe form, ∼10% of adults. Periodontitis is an exemplar of an imbalanced interaction between the local microbiome and the inflammatory response of the host (dysbiosis). Periodontitis can cause low-grade systemic inflammation, which may influence the development of comorbidities.

Periodontitis-associated systemic inflammation likely results from haematogenous dissemination of periodontal bacteria or spillover of inflammatory mediators from

periodontal tissues to the bloodstream.

Inflammation in extra-oral sites can be induced also through oro-pharyngeal or oro-digestive translocation of periodontal bacteria; the former is associated with aspiration pneumonia, whereas the latter is associated with intestinal dysbiosis and gut-mediated systemic inflammation.

Epidemiological, clinical interventional and experimental studies collectively offer sufficient evidence that periodontitis adversely impacts systemic health through biologically plausible mechanisms.

The presentation will show the effect of oral microbiome on the body organs and will emphasize the need of oral examination during patient examination.