Cigarette Smoking and Opium Use in Relation to the Oral Microbiota in Iran
Zeni Wu, Yongli Han, J. Gregory Caporaso, Nicholas A. Bokulich, Ashraf Mohamadkhani, Alireza Moayyedkazemi, Xing Hua, Farin Kamangar, Yunhu Wan, Shalabh Suman, Bin Zhu, Amy Hutchinson, Casey Dagnall, Kristine Jones, Belynda Hicks, Jianxin Shi, Reza Malekzadeh, Christian C. Abnet, Akram Pourshams, Emily Vogtmann
Abstract
Cigarette smoking and opium use are associated with periodontal disease caused by specific bacteria such as Porphyromonas gingivalis, which suggests a link between cigarette smoking and opium use and the oral microbiota. Alterations of the oral microbiota in cigarette smokers compared to nonsmokers have been reported, but this has not been studied across diverse populations. Additionally, the association of opium use with the oral microbiota has not been investigated to date. We conducted this study to investigate differences in the oral microbiota between ever users of cigarettes only, opium only, and both cigarettes and opium and never users of cigarettes and opium in Iran. Lower alpha-diversity, distinct overall oral microbial communities, and the presence and relative abundance of multiple taxa have been found for users of cigarettes and/or opium.