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Exploring Molecular Insights in Oral Health and Disease

A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Pathology, Diagnostics, and Therapeutics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 October 2026 | Viewed by 891

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Physiology, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Medicine and Pharmacy Carol Davila, 8 Eroilor Sanitari Blvd., 050474 Bucharest, Romania
Interests: signaling pathways; saliva; oral biocompatibility; periodontal disease; burns; cancer cells metabolism; metabolic reprogramming; autoimmune diseases; oral health; physiology
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Guest Editor
Department of Prosthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 020021 Bucharest, Romania
Interests: dental materials; prosthodontics; oral biocompatibility; oral interactions; oral health; dental occlusion

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

According to the World Dental Federation (FDI), "oral health is multi-faceted and includes the ability to speak, smile, smell, taste, touch, chew, swallow and convey a range of emotions through facial expressions with confidence and without pain, discomfort and disease of the craniofacial complex (head, face, and oral cavity)." Decades of research have demonstrated the bidirectional relationship between oral and systemic health. Oral diseases affect not only the teeth and oral tissues but also produce general effects, impacting the emotional and psychological state of patients, and the overall quality of life. Studies have highlighted the key role that molecular events, signaling pathways and cellular metabolism play in oral health as well as in the development of oral diseases or their treatment. Moreover, dental treatments and restorations are essential to restore the morphology and function of the teeth and craniofacial structures; therefore, it is of utter importance to study the biocompatibility and molecular-level interactions of novel materials with the oral environment.

This Special Issue invites the submission of original articles, reviews, case reports as well as clinical- and pure-model studies that include biomolecular experiments that display the current advances in the field of molecular biology and biochemistry related to oral health, diseases and treatments, including dental restorations, splints and prostheses. Studies on the molecular physiology of the oral cavity, the signaling pathways involved in the development of oral pathologies and targeted therapies are also welcome, as well as manuscripts that provide any additional information that provide additional information offering deeper understanding and new perspectives on the molecular landscape of oral health and diseases.

Dr. Iulia-Ioana Stanescu-Spinu
Dr. Tudor Claudiu Spînu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • oral health
  • saliva
  • oral diseases
  • molecular insights
  • molecular targets
  • oral cavity physiology
  • wound healing
  • oral microbiome
  • oral biocompatibility
  • material interactions

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

15 pages, 3699 KB  
Article
Impact of Selected Pre-Analytical and Analytical Factors on Untargeted Salivary Metabolomics
by Sylwia Michorowska, Agnieszka Zięba, Dorota Olczak-Kowalczyk and Joanna Giebułtowicz
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2026, 27(8), 3345; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms27083345 - 8 Apr 2026
Viewed by 416
Abstract
With the growing interest in personalized medicine, alternative biological matrices to blood are increasingly explored as sources of diagnostic information. Saliva has emerged as a promising diagnostic matrix due to its non-invasive collection, suitability for home sampling, and minimal requirements for personnel training. [...] Read more.
With the growing interest in personalized medicine, alternative biological matrices to blood are increasingly explored as sources of diagnostic information. Saliva has emerged as a promising diagnostic matrix due to its non-invasive collection, suitability for home sampling, and minimal requirements for personnel training. Numerous studies have demonstrated the presence of metabolites in saliva that enable disease diagnosis and monitoring. However, the influence of pre-analytical and analytical factors on salivary metabolomics outcomes remains insufficiently characterized. In this study, we investigated factors potentially affecting the number and abundance of detected metabolites in untargeted salivary metabolomics using liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (LC–MS). The impact of chromatographic column type, extraction protocol, and saliva type (stimulated versus resting) was evaluated. Additionally, the effect of swab type on analyte recovery was assessed. The use of a synthetic swab for saliva collection yielded results most comparable to those obtained without swabs, for both resting and stimulated saliva samples, indicating minimal pre-analytical interference. The greatest metabolite coverage was obtained using ACN:MeOH (1:1, v/v), with a ZIC-HILIC column for polar metabolites and a C18 column for non-polar metabolite separation. These findings demonstrate that swab type, chromatographic column, extraction solvent, and saliva type critically shape metabolite coverage in untargeted salivary metabolomics. Importantly, the distinct metabolic profiles of resting and stimulated saliva suggest that these matrices may provide complementary clinical insights, underscoring the need for saliva type selection tailored to specific diagnostic and biomarker discovery objectives. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Exploring Molecular Insights in Oral Health and Disease)
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