Control of oral biofilms.

Oral biofilms play a major role in the etiology of oral diseases, and have broad implications for quality of life, systemic health and economic costs. Hypotheses regarding the mechanisms by which oral biofilms exert their pathogenic potential have evolved over time. Early theories in which oral diseases were associated solely with the quantity of colonizing biofilms have been replaced by the understanding that emergence of specific pathogenic microorganisms may lead to diseases. New insights into the structure and composition of oral microbial communities have implicated shifts in the composition of the resident microbiota in the development of oral diseases. Improved knowledge about the factors involved in the etiology of oral diseases has resulted in a refinement of traditional approaches for the control of oral biofilms and spurred the development of new preventive and therapeutic strategies. This volume of Periodontology 2000 provides an indepth analysis of current beliefs regarding the structure and composition of oral biofilm communities, microbial shifts associated with oral health and disease, transmission of oral pathogens, and technologies for the assessment of complex microbial communities. Trends in the prevalence of oral biofilm-associated diseases and their implications are discussed, and approaches to the control of oral biofilms are critically appraised.