Nutritional and Oral Health Status of Mother Indicate Tooth Decay Risk in Child

Taking a closer look at nutritional factors during pregnancy and in infancy could prevent tooth decay in young children, suggest researchers from the Rochester Institute of Technology and the University of Rochester Medical Center.

A new collaborative study will investigate the relationship between oral microbiome in early infancy and the nutritional status of pregnant women. This study is a large project funded by the National Institutes of Health’s Dental and Craniofacial Research.

Maternal Nutrition and Oral Health Offer Clues to Childhood Tooth Decay

Researchers will examine relationships between perinatal nutritive behavior—such as dietary iron intake—and non-nutritive behavior—such as pica—and the oral microbiome during pregnancy and early life.

Tooth Decay
Tooth decay in toddlers, children and adults, also called dental caries, is a bacterial infection causing demineralization and destruction of the hard tissues of the teeth.

‘Inform prenatal counseling for underserved women to prevent severe tooth decay in young children.’

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They will assess the impact on infants’ early-life oral yeast colonization and infection and explore microbial compositions of pica substances. A two-year $380,000 award from the NIH supports Abu’s collaboration.

Pica is the compulsive eating of items lacking nutritional value. The behavior occurs most often in women and children, and substances consumed include seemingly harmless items, such as ice, or dangerous materials, such as dried paint, clay, soil, or metal ().

Pica may cause infections and deplete iron stores in pregnant women. The results can be devastating to maternal health and fetal development and carry long-lasting consequences.

People who have iron deficiency crave the taste and smell of non-food substances that make iron deficiency worse. Pregnant women who develop iron deficiency anemia have an increased risk of miscarriages, low-birthweight babies, and other poor-birth outcomes.

Other risk factors revealed from this study could inform prenatal counseling for underserved women and predict and prevent “Early Childhood Caries,” or severe tooth decay in young children.

Research among underserved racial and ethnic minority groups has shown that the presence of certain bacteria and yeast in the mother’s mouth increases the child’s likelihood of developing the condition. The data from this study generated will strengthen the understanding of children’s oral microbiome development and their association with tooth decay ().

Findings from the current study exploring maternal nutrition and the oral microbiome in early infancy will influence the scope of international research.

Training and expertise in nutrition may bridge gaps in nutritional and oral research and generate ground-breaking interventions for early warning, early detection, and prevention of oral disease and iron deficiency among underserved mothers and young children.

References:

Associations between Maternal Education and Child Nutrition and Oral Health in an Indigenous Population in Ecuador - (https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/1/473 )
Neonatal stunting and early childhood caries: A mini-review - (https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fped.2022.871862/full )

Source-Eurekalert