Journal of Oral Microbiology

Temporal Dynamics of the Oral Microbiome Across the Life Course

The oral microbiome is a highly dynamic microbial ecosystem that continuously evolves throughout human life. From birth, microbial communities undergo succession influenced by host development, environmental exposures, diet, oral hygiene, systemic health, medications, and aging. Recent advances in sequencing technologies, multi-omics approaches, and computational biology have substantially expanded our understanding of these temporal changes. Increasing evidence suggests that alterations in oral microbial communities are associated with oral diseases as well as systemic conditions, emphasizing the importance of studying longitudinal microbiome dynamics rather than static microbial profiles. This Article Collection aims to provide a comprehensive platform for research investigating how the oral microbiome changes across the life course and how these dynamic microbial communities contribute to health and disease.

Understanding the temporal dynamics of the oral microbiome has become increasingly important for identifying critical developmental windows, discovering predictive biomarkers, and developing personalized preventive and therapeutic strategies. Although numerous cross-sectional studies have characterized oral microbial composition at single time points, longitudinal investigations remain comparatively limited despite their unique ability to reveal microbial succession, resilience, stability, and responses to environmental and clinical interventions. Integrating longitudinal microbiome research with host immune responses, metabolomics, artificial intelligence, and clinical phenotyping will further advance our understanding of oral microbial ecology and support precision oral healthcare. This Collection aims to bring together interdisciplinary studies that illuminate dynamic host–microbe interactions throughout life.

We welcome Original Research Articles, Reviews, Systematic Reviews, Brief Reports, and Methodological Papers focusing on temporal and longitudinal aspects of oral microbiome research. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Early-life oral microbiome development
• Mother–infant microbial transmission
• Longitudinal cohort studies
• Oral microbiome and systemic diseases
• Oral microbial succession during aging
• Biofilm ecology
• Multi-omics analyses
• Artificial intelligence and computational analysis of microbiome data
• Microbiome responses to preventive and therapeutic interventions
• Translational oral microbiology and precision oral health

Studies involving pediatric, adolescent, adult, elderly, healthy, and medically compromised populations are all encouraged, provided they contribute to understanding the temporal dynamics of the oral microbiome.

Keywords

1. Oral microbiome
2. Temporal dynamics
3. Longitudinal cohort
4. Microbial succession
5. Precision oral health

­­All manuscripts submitted to this Article Collection will undergo a full peer-review; the Guest Advisor for this Collection will not be handling the manuscripts (unless they are an Editorial Board member).

Please review the journal scope and author submission instructions prior to submitting a manuscript.

The deadline for submitting manuscripts is 31 May 2027.

Please contact Zhiyuan Zhang at zhiyuan.zhang@taylorandfrancis.com with any queries and discount codes regarding this Article Collection.

Please be sure to select the appropriate Article Collection from the drop-down menu in the submission system.

Guest Advisor

Chung-Min Kang, DDS, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatric Dentistry at Yonsei University College of Dentistry, Republic of Korea. Her research focuses on the development of the oral microbiome across the life course, preterm birth, oral–systemic health, rare diseases, and precision pediatric dentistry. She has published extensively on longitudinal oral microbiome studies and serves as an editorial board member and reviewer for several international journals.