September 14, 2017

Oral Microbiome Question Responses

1)     What is the human microbiome?

The human microbiome is the environment inside of ones mouth that is made up of different bacteria, viral organisms and fungal species. They all live on the surface

2)    What Kind of information can you learn from an examination of the microbiome?

By examining the microbiome, you can determine what bacteria and other prokaryotic organisms are present. This can also provide information to diagnose infections and viruses such as some strains of HIV. This is because certain bacteria’s can be associated with the diseases and allow for diagnosis.

2 Questions

1)    Why, when testing the oral microbiome of your mouth, do you only scrape the gums and teeth? Wouldn’t the colonies also live on the sides of your cheeks and or tongue?

2)    Because the environment for this microbiome is the ideal place for bacteria growth, is it possible to target certain “bad” prokaryotes or bacteria to remove it or is it a come one come all?