Salivary microbial profiles associate with responsiveness to warning oral sensations and dietary intakes

•Two distinct salivary microbial profiles are detected via unsupervised clustering.•Salivary bacterial diversity is associated with low acuity for warning sensations.•Taxa of the class Clostridia are associated with low acuity for warning sensations.•Cariogenic bacteria are associated with high intakes of simple carbohydrates.•Taste, psychological traits and oral microbiota are associated with dietary habits.