Children's Dental Caries Microbiome: 16S rRNA Sequencing of Saliva and Plaque

A preliminary study of 36 children aged 3–5 years in China, grouped by arrested caries, rampant caries, or caries-free status. The dataset contains 72 samples of non-stimulated saliva and dental plaque, with microbial DNA sequenced for the V3-V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene. It was created by Meimei Li and last updated on 2026-04-17.

Use Cases

• Compare alpha and beta diversity metrics between saliva and plaque microbiomes as described in the results.
• Identify taxonomic biomarkers associated with arrested caries, rampant caries, or caries-free states based on differential abundance analysis.
• Investigate the relative abundance of specific phyla like Bacteroidota and Fusobacteriota across clinical groups.
• Validate findings linking distinct plaque microbial profiles to different caries activity levels.

Strengths

• Dataset includes 72 samples from 36 children, providing paired saliva and plaque data.
• Sequencing targeted the V3-V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene using the Illumina MiSeq platform.
• Bioinformatics analysis was performed with QIIME2 and taxonomic classification used the SILVA database.
• Statistical analysis included Kruskal–Wallis test with Benjamini-Hochberg correction.

Limitations

• Row count and column-level documentation are absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The sample size of 36 children is small, which may limit the generalizability of findings.
• Data may reflect geographic or demographic bias inherent to the specific study cohort.

Provenance

Source

figshare, author Meimei Li.

Collection Method

Microbial DNA was extracted from clinical samples, sequenced, and analyzed with QIIME2.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-17 05:21:41; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Study location is not specified, but the author's name suggests a likely Chinese context.