Oral Health Birth Cohort Studies: Achievements, Challenges, and Potential

Abstract

Birth cohorts are those among observational studies that provide understanding of the natural history and causality of diseases since early in life. Discussions during an International Association for Dental Research symposium in London, United Kingdom, in 2018, followed by a workshop in Bangkok, Thailand, in 2019, concluded that there are few birth cohort studies that consider oral health and that a broader discussion on similarities and differences among those studies would be valuable. This article aims to 1) bring together available long-term data of oral health birth cohort studies from the low, middle, and high-income countries worldwide and 2) describe similarities and differences among these studies. This work comprises 15 studies from all 5 continents. The most studied dental conditions and exposures are identified; findings are summarized; and methodological differences and similarities among studies are presented. Methodological strengths and weaknesses are also highlighted. Findings are summarized in 1) the negative impact of detrimental socioeconomic status on oral health changes over time, 2) the role of unfavorable patterns of dental visiting on oral health, 3) associations between general and oral health, 4) nutritional and dietary effects on oral health, and 5) intergenerational influences on oral health. Dental caries and dental visiting patterns have been recorded in all studies. Sources of fluoride exposure have been documented in most of the more recent studies. Despite some methodological differences in the way that the exposures and outcomes were measured, some findings are consistent. Predictive models have been used with caries risk tools, periodontitis occurrence, and permanent dentition orthodontic treatment need. The next steps of the group’s work are as follows: 1) establishing a consortium of oral health birth cohort studies, 2) conducting a scoping review, 3) exploring opportunities for pooled data analyses to answer pressing research questions, and 4) promoting and enabling the development of the next generation of oral health researchers.

Risk factors for dental caries in Latin American and Caribbean countries

“…45 There is a strong association of social and economic conditions with the occurrence of dental caries, indicating that individuals living in low socioeconomic conditions have greater exposure to risk factors that could influence their burden of dental caries. 46,47 A Colombian study demonstrating oral-health inequalities in early childhood found significant associations of caries experience, age, and caregivers' lower educational level. 48 Occupation is an indicator of the socioeconomic position, determining the individual's place in the societal hierarchy and commonly includes parental occupation as an indicator of a child's socioeconomic position.…”

“…Regular dental care combines individual behavioral factors with public-policy contextual factors (Figure 1). Absence of regular preventive dental care is associated with a higher number of fillings 90 and poor oral health 47 in adulthood.…”

“…Moreover, there is a need to conduct higher -quality studies in LACC to achieve a better understanding in our populations regarding the effect of exposures to caries risk factors on dental caries, within the framework of non-communicable disease related to oral health, general health, and quality of life. Peres et al, 47 highlighted the need for birth cohort studies, epidemiologic and statistical analyses, observational and nested intervention studies, as well as conforming collaborative group studies.…”

Clinical and Cytological Characteristics of the Gums in Children of Primary School Age With Normal Body Weight and Overweight

“…Inflammatory and dystrophic disorders of the periodontal tissues are so far predominant in the overall structure of pathological processes of the oral cavity in children [1]. It is known that the foci of chronic periodontal infection not only cause contamination of the tissues of the maxillofacial area, but also initiate the emergence of pathological processes in other organs and systems [2]. The results of numerous clinical and epidemiological studies indicate a tendency for an increase in the prevalence of overweight among children and adolescents due to the presence of concomitant somatic diseases [3,4,5].…”

The Queensland Birth Cohort Study for Early Childhood Caries: Results at 7 Years

“…Birth cohort studies provide important longitudinal insight into the etiology, natural history, and life course of ECC and are valuable in guiding preventive strategies. However, to date, there are few prospective birth cohort studies investigating ECC that extend beyond 5 y (Peres et al 2020).…”