Overview: Bacteria of the genus Rothia are abundant in the healthy oral microbiome, making up 3-10% of the bacteria in dental plaque and 1-5% of the bacteria at sites such as the tongue dorsum and buccal mucosa.

Ecological role/importance in health and disease: Three species of genus Rothia are abundant in the oral cavity: R. aeria, R. dentocariosa, and R. mucilaginosa. R. aeria and R. dentocariosa are found predominantly in dental plaque. R. mucilaginosa is abundant on the tongue, where it forms large patches (Wilbert et al. 2020). All three species are capable of nitrate reduction to nitrite and therefore may participate in human nitric oxide homeostasis (Hezel and Weitzberg 2015, Rosier et al. 2020). They can also act as opportunistic pathogens.