This transcript has been edited for clarity.
Hello. I’m Dr David Johnson, professor of medicine and chief of gastroenterology at Eastern Virginia Medical School and of Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.
Why is the oral microbiome important? As a gastroenterologist, why do I talk to my patients about it and recommend that you do as well?
I’ll explain why this is an important tactic and also highlight a recent article in The American Journal of Gastroenterology that shares the results of a national cohort study investigating the association between periodontitis and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
But first, let me give you some background.
An Oral Microbiome Primer
The oral microbiome is the second largest microbial community in the human body, after the gut microbiome. It includes an array of fungi,…