The conceptual transition from the "Red Complex" paradigm to the "Ecological Plaque Hypothesis" has fundamentally reshaped the understanding of periodontitis, but a quantitative mapping of this intellectual evolution and its emerging research frontiers remains limited. This study systematically characterized the global research landscape and evolutionary trends of the oral microbiome in periodontitis from 2000 to 2025. English-language articles published between 2000 and 17 November 2025 were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection and Scopus databases. After deduplication, bibliometric analyses were performed on 2827 unique publications to evaluate spatiotemporal distributions, collaboration patterns, thematic evolution, and citation bursts. The results revealed exponential growth in publications, particularly after 2020, with the United States and China leading global contributions. Thematic evolution analyses demonstrated a clear shift from single-pathogen-focused research, exemplified by Porphyromonas gingivalis, toward ecological frameworks emphasizing dysbiosis and microbial community structure. Recent citation bursts highlighted growing attention to broader microbial taxa, inflammatory mediators, clinically relevant periodontal indicators, microbiome-based therapeutic strategies, and methodological standardization. Overall, research on the oral microbiome in periodontitis has evolved toward a host-microbiome systems biology framework, with future studies likely to emphasize functional multi-omics integration, AI-assisted diagnostics, and precision interventions targeting oral-systemic health links.
Wang et al. (Wed,) studied this question.