Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Aug 16, 2021; 9(23): 6846-6857
Published online Aug 16, 2021. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v9.i23.6846
Diverse microbiota in palatal radicular groove analyzed by Illumina sequencing: Four case reports
Xue-Lian Tan, Xuan Chen, Yu-Jie Fu, Ling Ye, Lan Zhang, Ding-Ming Huang
Xue-Lian Tan, Xuan Chen, Yu-Jie Fu, Ling Ye, Lan Zhang, Ding-Ming Huang, State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases & National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases & Department of Operative Dentistry and Endodontics West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan Province, China
Author contributions: Tan XL designed and carried out the experiments, analyzed the results, and wrote the manuscript; Chen X analyzed the results and wrote the manuscript; Fu YJ helped carry out the experiments and analyzed the results; Ye L, and Zhang L revised this manuscript; Huang DM designed the experiments and critically revised this manuscript; All authors approved the manuscript and are responsible for all aspects of the work.
Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 82001037; and the Research and Develop Program, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, No. RD-02-202007.
Informed consent statement: Informed written consent was obtained from the patients for publication of this report and any accompanying images.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ding-Ming Huang, PhD, Professor, State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases & National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases & Department of Operative Dentistry and Endodontics West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, No. 14 3rd Section, Renmin South Road, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan Province, China. dingminghuang@163.com
Received: April 14, 2021
Peer-review started: April 14, 2021
First decision: May 11, 2021
Revised: May 24, 2021
Accepted: June 4, 2021
Article in press: June 4, 2021
Published online: August 16, 2021
Abstract
BACKGROUND

A palatal radicular groove is an unusual developmental deformity of the tooth, which may serve as a channel linking the periodontal and periapical inflammation, and yet no literature could be obtained analyzing microbiota within the palatal radicular grooves.

CASE SUMMARY

Four patients diagnosed with palatal radicular groove and concomitant periodontal-endodontic deformity in permanent maxillary lateral incisors were enrolled in this work. Twelve bacterial samples from 4 patients were collected from different parts of the palatal radicular groove during intentional replantation surgery. Illumina sequencing was performed to analyze the taxonomical composition and microbiome structure inside the palatal grooves, and 1162 operational taxonomic units were obtained. The phyla of Firmicutes and Proteobacteria predominated in most of the samples. An unknown genus from the Bacillaceae family, Lactococcus, and Porphyromonas were the most abundant genera identified. There was no difference in the microbiota richness and diversity in three sections of the groove.

CONCLUSION

The unique ecological niches inside the palatal grooves harbored bacterial communities that shared some component features of both the endodontic and periodontal infections. The existence of palatal groove may play an interaction bridge between the root apex and tooth cervix and thus impair the outcome of traditional therapeutic methods such as root canal treatment and periodontal management.

Keywords: Palatal radicular groove, High-throughput sequencing, Microbiota composition, Taxonomy, Endodontic-periodontal infection, Case report

Core Tip: Microbial communities dwelling in the palatal grooves are as complex as those related to endodontic and periodontal infections. The existence of palatal groove may bridge interactions between the root apex and dental cervix and thus impair the outcome of traditional therapeutic methods such as root canal treatment and periodontal management.