Alteration of Oral Flora in the Betel-quid Chewers

Objectives: Betel quid chewing is known as a crucial risk factor for oral diseases such as periodontal diseases, oral cancer and precancerous lesions in Southeast Asian countries. The alteration of oral florain the betel quid chewers has not been clarified. The abnormal oral bacterial floramay be linked with oral diseases. The purpose of the present study was to observe the oral flora in betel quid chewers (BQCs) and non-chewers (NCs) in Sri Lanka.
Methods: The samples obtained from buccal swabs in BQCs and NCs were analyzed with the next generation sequencer (NGS). Data was processed and analyzed using the QIIME software package. Mann–Whitney’s U test and Permutational multivariate analysis of variance (PERMANOVA) were used for the statistical analyses. We considered a P value of <0.05 to be significant.
Results: In the BQCs, the proportion of periodontal pathogens including Actinomyces, Tannerella, and Prevotella wasincreased as compared with NCs (p<0.05), while the proportion of cariogenic pathogens including Streptococcus, Lautropia, and Actinobacillus was decreased (p<0.05). A significant difference was observed between the BQCs and NCs by Shannon index and PD Whole tree(p<0.05). PCoA analysis formed different clusters in BQCs and NCs(p<0.05).
Conclusions: The results suggested that betel-quid chewing significantly altered the oralflora. Adequate oral health care may help to prevent the BQCs from bacterial pathogen-related oral diseases.