Oral bacteriophages (or phages), especially periodontal ones, constitute a growing area of interest, but research on oral phages is still in its infancy. Phages are bacterial viruses that may persist as intracellular parasitic deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) or use bacterial metabolism to replicate and cause bacterial lysis. The microbiomes of saliva, oral mucosa, and dental plaque contain active phage virions, bacterial lysogens (ie, carrying dormant prophages), and bacterial strains containing short fragments of phage DNA. In excess of 2000 oral phages have been confirmed or predicted to infect species of the phyla Actinobacteria (>300 phages), Bacteroidetes (>300 phages), Firmicutes (>1000 phages), Fusobacteria (>200 phages), and Proteobacteria (>700 phages) and three additional phyla (few phages only). This article assesses the current knowledge of the diversity of the oral phage population and the mechanisms by which phages may impact the ecology of oral biofilms. The potential use of phage‐based therapy to control major periodontal pathogens is also discussed.

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人类口腔噬菌体

口腔噬菌体（或噬菌体），尤其是牙周噬菌体，成为人们关注的一个增长领域，但是对口腔噬菌体的研究仍处于起步阶段。噬菌体是细菌病毒，可能以细胞内寄生脱氧核糖核酸（DNA）的形式持续存在，或利用细菌代谢来复制并引起细菌裂解。唾液，口腔粘膜和牙菌斑的微生物群包含活性噬菌体病毒体，细菌溶原菌（即携带休眠的噬菌体）和细菌菌株，其中含有噬菌体DNA的短片段。已经证实或预测有超过2000种口腔噬菌体会感染门猕猴菌（> 300噬菌体），拟杆菌（> 300噬菌体），纤毛虫（> 1000噬菌体），梭菌（> 200噬菌体）和变形杆菌（> 700）噬菌体）和另外三个门（仅限少数噬菌体）。本文评估了目前有关口腔噬菌体种群多样性的知识以及噬菌体可能影响口腔生物膜生态的机制。还讨论了基于噬菌体的治疗方法可用于控制主要的牙周病原体。