Reimagining the oral / systemic health nexus

Do you know how oral pathogens affect your health?

Team - Oracle: The Future of Dental Diagnostics

Do you know how oral pathogens affect your health?

The impact that oral health has on overall systemic health is significant and well known in the medical community. Here are some fast facts on how oral pathogens might affect you and your family:

  • Oral pathogens create a 2-5x increase in the risk of stroke – American Heart Association
  • They cause a 1.7x increase in the risk of colon cancer – Colon Cancer Society
  • Are linked to a 3x increase in the incidence of pre-term birth (birth prior to 37 weeks of gestation) – ACOG
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Pathogens enter the body through the circulatory and digestive, systems creating permeable tissue and inflammation which leads to systemic disease

Periodontitis

The oral microbiome is complex, and shifts in
the abundances of several types of bacteria can lead to periodontitis (Di Stefano et al., 2022). Even in low abundances, P. gingivalis can influence the composition of the rest of the microbiome in ways that lead to inflammation and periodontal bone loss by exploiting the host immune system (Hajishengallis et al., 2011)

Mucositis/Peri-implantitis

Peri-implant mucositis, and later, peri-implantitis, can develop when a biofilm forms around the implant. Disease progression corresponds with an increased diversity of the submucosal bacterial community and higher relative abundances of several pathogenic or pathogen-associated populations (Belibasakis and Manoil, 2021; Butera et al., 2022). Fortunately, mucositis and peri-implantitis plaque microbiomes can revert to healthy baselines with antibiotic and/or mechanical intervention (Bazzani et al., 2024).

Adverse pregnancy outcomes

Pregnancy is associated with decreased markers of periodontal health and changes in the oral microbiome. Associations have been made between maternal periodontitis and preterm birth, low birth weight, and preeclampsia (Ye and Kapila, 2021).

Diabetes

Diabetes exacerbates the likelihood and severity of periodontal disease (Graves et al., 2020), although this bidirectional relationship may also be affected by periodontal pathogens triggering the host immune system to activate proinflammatory responses (Tang et al., 2022).

Rheumatoid Arthritis

 Several studies have associated rheumatoid arthritis and periodontitis (Li et al., 2017), and P. gingivalis has been shown to produce specific peptides that trigger the host immune response in rheumatoid arthritis (Hitchon et al., 2010).

Colon Cancer

Over the last decade, one such species, called Fusobacterium nucleatum, has been strongly implicated as a potential contributor to colorectal cancer growth. Although F. nucleatum is normally found in the mouth, studies have also found increased numbers of it in the intestines of people with colorectal tumors compared with people without cancer.

In a new study, published on March 20, 2024 in Nature, NCI-funded researchers have pinpointed a single type of F. nucleatum that appears to be the cancer-fueling culprit scientists have been searching for.

Endocarditis

The oral commensal bacterium Streptococcus sanguinis possesses virulence factors that allow it to migrate into the bloodstream, bind to the cardiac endothelium, and contribute to infective endocarditis (Martini et al., 2020).

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

Several oral bacterial taxa have been detected in lung mucosa of patients with COPD, and similar immune responses between periodontal disease and COPD suggest a common pathophysiology (Hobbins et al., 2017; Bourgeois et al., 2019).

Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Oral strains of Klebsiella are able to colonize the intestine and induce TH1 cells, leading to inflammation (Atarashi et al., 2017).

Esophageal Cancer

Oesophageal cancer is the most common gastrointestinal malignancy in China and one of the major causes of death due to cancer worldwide. The occurrence of oesophageal cancer is a multifactor…process... Specifically, bacterial infection may be involved in the process of tissue carcinogenesis by directly or indirectly influencing tumour occurrence and development. Porphyromonas gingivalis is an important pathogen causing periodontitis, and periodontitis can promote the occurrence of various tumours. An increasing number of studies to date have shown that P. gingivalis plays an important role in the occurrence and development of oesophageal cancer…

Oral Bacteria's Impact on Disease

Studies reveal oral bacteria's role in conditions like diabetes and heart disease.

Details
Atarashi, K., Suda, W., Luo, C., Kawaguchi, T., Motoo, I., Narushima, S., et al. (2017). Ectopic colonization of oral bacteria in the intestine drives T H 1 cell induction and inflammation. Science 358, 359–365. doi: 10.1126/science.aan4526
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Bazzani, D., Heidrich, V., Manghi, P., Blanco-Miguez, A., Asnicar, F., Armanini, F., et al. (2024). Favorable subgingival plaque microbiome shifts are associated with clinical treatment for peri-implant diseases. Npj Biofilms Microbiomes 10, 12. doi: 10.1038/s41522-024-00482-z
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Belibasakis, G. N., and Manoil, D. (2021). Microbial Community-Driven Etiopathogenesis of Peri-Implantitis. J. Dent. Res. 100, 21–28. doi: 10.1177/0022034520949851
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Bourgeois, D., Inquimbert, C., Ottolenghi, L., and Carrouel, F. (2019). Periodontal Pathogens as Risk Factors of Cardiovascular Diseases, Diabetes, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Cancer, and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease—Is There Cause for Consideration? Microorganisms 7, 424. doi: 10.3390/microorganisms7100424
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Butera, A., Pascadopoli, M., Pellegrini, M., Gallo, S., Zampetti, P., and Scribante, A. (2022). Oral Microbiota in Patients with Peri-Implant Disease: A Narrative Review. Appl. Sci. 12, 3250. doi: 10.3390/app12073250
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Pathogens enter the body through the circulatory and digestive, systems creating permeable tissue and inflammation which leads to systemic disease

Team - Oracle: The Future of Dental Diagnostics
Oracle Team

    Systemic Disease Triggered By Oral Pathogens

  • Local Effects: Oral pathogens provoke inflammation and tissue destruction in the gums through cytokines (like IL-1B, IL-6, and TNF-a) and immune system modulation.
  • Systemic Spread: The bacteria or their components (like lipopolysaccharides) can enter the bloodstream, causing an inflammatory response that affects distant organs, including the heart, contributing to cardiovascular diseases and other systemic conditions such as diabetes.
  • Immune Dysregulation: Pathogens not only increase local inflammation but can also promote systemic dysregulation of immune responses, leading to chronic inflammatory conditions.

Our platform leverages Next Generation Sequencing and Machine Learning to screen for oral pathogens, providing patient specific risk profiles and treatment recommendations - that enable better outcomes at lower cost for key inflammatory diseases that affect billionbs of people.
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Team - Oracle: The Future of Dental Diagnostics

Next Generation Sequencing

Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) on the NextSeq 1000 is a powerful, versatile method that enables rapid, high-throughput sequencing of DNA or RNA, allowing for comprehensive genomic analysis. The NextSeq 1000 system is designed for efficiency and flexibility, catering to a variety of applications such as whole-genome sequencing, targeted gene panels, and transcriptome analysis. It uses Illumina’s sequencing by synthesis (SBS) technology, which is known for its accuracy and ability to generate high-quality data across a range of project scales. The NextSeq 1000 offers streamlined workflows, making it suitable for both research and clinical environments, where quick turnaround and precision are essential.

Oracle Team
Team - Oracle: The Future of Dental Diagnostics
Oracle Team

Machine Learning

Our algorithm is designed to stratify risk of disease by analyzing the microbial composition of a plaque test sample and comparing it to a library of samples associated with various disease states. The algorithm leverages the relative abundance of microbes to identify unique microbial patterns linked to different diseases. By using advanced pattern recognition techniques, the model learns to differentiate between disease states based on subtle variations in microbial profiles. The system evaluates the test sample against the established microbial signatures in its database and provides a diagnostic output that indicates the most likely disease state and risks.

SAMPLE COLLECTION

Collect a sample in office and ship it to our lab-takes 60 seconds

DNA PROCESSING

Extract all DNA in a high throughput and automated process our sequencer reads over 200m bps

BIOINFORMATICS

Our proprietary algorithms to determine disease state and affective interventions