High birth weight is a risk factor of dental caries increment during adolescence in Sweden

Abstract

This study aimed to assess whether birth weight is associated with dental caries during the teenage period. In this register-based cohort study, all children of 13 yrs of age (n = 18,142) who resided in the county of Stockholm, Sweden, in 2000 were included. The cohort was followed until individuals were 19 yrs of age. Information regarding dental caries was collected from the Public Health Care Administration in Stockholm. Data concerning prenatal and perinatal factors and parental socio-demographic determinants were collected from the Swedish Medical Birth Register and National Registers at Statistics Sweden. The final logistic regression model showed that birth weight (≥4000 g), adjusted for potential confounders, was significantly associated with caries increment (DMFT ≥ 1) between 13 and 19 yrs of age (OR: 1.29, 95% CI = 1.13-1.48). The relatively enhanced risk OR was further increased from 1.29 to 1.52 in subjects with birth weight (≥4600 g). On the contrary, subjects with birth weight (<2500 g) exhibited a significantly lower risk (OR: 0.67, 95% CI = 0.50-0.89) for exhibiting caries experience (DMFT ≥4) at 19 yrs of age. In conclusion, birth weight can be regarded as a predictor for dental caries and birth weight (≥4000 g) is especially a risk factor for caries increment during adolescence.

Caries risk assessment in children: how accurate are we?

“…Likewise, obesity and high birth weight may be risk factors for caries but yet not prospectively evaluated (Hayden et al 2013;Julihn et al 2014). The level of oral hygiene is also a factor that commonly is significantly associated to caries in univariate analysis, but the predictive accuracy has been proven poor in most studies (Mejàre et al 2014).…”

Three dimensional image analysis of minor salivary glands in 180-day rats born with macrosomia

“…Conclusion studies, researchers have pointed only to the issue of caries occurrence in children and adolescents [9,10]. The effect of fetal macrosomia on other organs, such as salivary glands, has been studied very sparsely up to now.…”

Association between high birth weight and dental caries at 4-5 years of age: a birth-cohort study

“…In those studies, the authors reported a weak association between dental caries and high birth weight in different periods. [23][24][25] Obviously, previous reports have been unable to end the controversy because of confounding factors. Therefore, we aimed to determine whether high birth weight was associated with the incidence and severity of dental caries later on in a cohort of children.…”