What Is Veillonella and What Is Its Role in the Mouth

When you hear the word "veillonella", you may think about a flower with sweet fragrance coming from it. Well, it is not the case. Veillonella is not a flower. It is a type of oral bacteria that affects the gums and teeth in pretty bad way. And it is one of the most common types of oral bacteria.

What is Veillonella

This germ is the cocci bacterium which resides in the mouth and it is anaerobic. It means that this bacterium doesn’t need oxygen to survive. As a matter of fact, this bacterium needs carbon dioxide to survive. While having a look at with the help of microscope, you would be able to see that it is round in shape, and it may appear in pairs, masses or short chains. It doesn’t move around very often.

A study published in Journal of Bacteriology suggests that veillonella works with Streptococcus bacteria in order to form plaque which continuously grows on your teeth. When these two types of bacteria work together, they lay a matrix which supports other types of bacteria to help in the formation of plaque. According to an observation, the first of growth involves 60 to 90 percent of streptococci while only 5% of it consists of Veillonella.

The formation of Veillonella

The way bacterial communities are formed is quite systematic. It means that different species of bacteria grow only as a result of growth of other types of bacteria. For instance, Veillonella doesn’t use sugar for its growth. But Streptococci use sugar for its own growth. Veillonella, however, use lactic acid laid by Streptococci. So, theoretically, Veillonella cannot survive without coexistence with Streptococci. One thing worth mentioning is that there are many types of bacteria which depend upon the growth of Veillonella. Hence, if you successfully restrict the growth of Streptococci, you can prevent the growth of a lot of other types of bacteria.

If you leave these bacteria to grow, the acid laid by these bacteria can lead to tooth decay. The infection can travel beneath the gum line and can eventually lead to tooth decay if you leave the problem untreated.

Things you need to do

Now the bad news is that these bacteria can start developing as soon as you are done cleaning your teeth and gums. Therefore, following dental hygiene should be your regular daily activity. With the help of regular cleaning on daily basis, you can disrupt the formation of bacterial colonies before they start making a mess of your oral health.

While you need to make sure that you are following your dental health routine on daily basis, you also need to visit your dentist regularly to get oral health checked and maintained.