Dental Plaque Could Lead to Clinical Laboratory Testing for Biomarkers to Identify Health Risks
Researchers have found that isolating a particular gene within the oral microbiome can reveal a huge amount of useful diagnostic information about a person’s health
Most people don’t think of dental plaque when they think about clinical laboratories. For the vast majority of people, the only diseases that dental plaque bring to mind are those of the mouth:
• gingivitis;
• periodontitis; and,
• dental caries.
Samples that are sent to medical labs and pathology laboratories are more often blood or tissue. However, that could be changing, thanks in part to the work being done at the Oral Microbiome and Metagenomics Research Lab (OMMR) at the University of Toronto. (more…)