The oral cavity is the main gateway for oral bacteria and their components to enter the lungs. Disruption of the oral microbiota due to internal or external factors has been associated with respiratory diseases. This dataset is used to explore the association between oral bacteria, lung function, and lung inflammation in a generally healthy community-based generation study RHINESSA in Bergen, Norway. Study-specific metadata can be found in respective research articles linked to this dataset.

The dataset represents Illumina MiSeq sequenced bacterial 16S rRNA (V1-V2 region) amplicons from the gingival fluid samples collected during the community-based generation study RHINESSA (www.rhinessa.net) in Bergen, Norway. The study cohort included 621 subjects, both adults and adolescents, examined in 2014-2015 with questionnaires, interviews, and gingival fluid sampling.

Gingival fluid was collected with sterile paper points (PROTAPER, Jacobsen Dental) from the gingival crevice (area between the gingiva crest and the neck of the tooth) at five per-protocol predetermined sites in the lower jaw; between the two frontal teeth, the left frontal tooth (lateral side), the right frontal tooth (lateral side), the left molar number 6 (facing molar 5), and the right molar number 6 (facing molar 5). The paper points were frozen immediately (at -80°C) after collection in 2 mL Safelock Biopur tubes without buffer.

The dataset includes (1) Casava 1.8 demultiplexed (paired-end) Illumina MiSeq reads for 621 samples (in fastq.gz); (2) metadata file (.txt); (3) README file (.txt).