Early Childhood Caries, Masticatory Function, Child Early Cognitive, and Psychomotor Development: A Narrative Review

Abstract

Dental caries is known as a global public health issue that has been affecting general health apart from its painful nature. Hence, it is undeniable that caries affecting young children or known as early childhood caries, also have an effect on children's general health. One of the interesting findings about caries is that it can also affect child growth and development, specifically on their cognitive and psychomotor ability. Untreated caries are linked to cognitive development through both neural and vascular pathways, with masticatory function as the key. Meanwhile, its effect on psychomotor development might be related to nutritional intake, which might slightly decline on those with caries. This review is aimed to describe the current findings of caries effect on early child development, from masticatory disturbance to further impacts on cognitive and psychomotor development. The overall conclusion of this review is that untreated severe caries in children are potentially associated negatively with their growth and development.

Keywords

caries - medicine - masticatory dysfunction - cognitive development - psychomotor development

Publikationsverlauf

Artikel online veröffentlicht:
04. Dezember 2023

• References

• 1 American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. (2021). Policy on early childhood caries (ECC): Consequences and preventive strategies. The Reference Manual of Pediatric Dentistry. Chicago, Ill.: American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, 81–84
• 2 Meyer F, Enax J. Early childhood caries: epidemiology, aetiology, and prevention. Int J Dent 2018; 2018: 1415873
• 3 Anil S, Anand PS. Early childhood caries: prevalence, risk factors, and prevention. Front Pediatr 2017; 5: 157
• 4 Listl S, Watt RG, Tsakos G. Early life conditions, adverse life events, and chewing ability at middle and later adulthood. Am J Public Health 2014; 104 (05) e55-e61
• 5 Tsakos G, Watt RG, Rouxel PL, de Oliveira C, Demakakos P. Tooth loss associated with physical and cognitive decline in older adults. J Am Geriatr Soc 2015; 63 (01) 91-99
• 6 Iinuma M. Relationship between the early toothless condition and hippocampal functional morphology. Anat Physiol 2013; 04 (03) 8-13
• 7 Fukushima-Nakayama Y, Ono T, Hayashi M. et al. Reduced Mastication Impairs Memory Function. J Dent Res 2017; 96 (09) 1058-1066
• 8 Wang X, Hu J, Jiang Q. Tooth loss-associated mechanisms that negatively affect cognitive function: a systematic review of animal experiments based on occlusal support loss and cognitive impairment. Front Neurosci 2022; 16: 811335
• 9 Klotz AL, Ehret J, Zajac M. et al. The effects of prosthetic status and dementia on the chewing efficiency of seniors in nursing homes. J Oral Rehabil 2020; 47 (03) 377-385
• 10 Mendes FdeC, de Almeida MN, Felício APG. et al. Enriched environment and masticatory activity rehabilitation recover spatial memory decline in aged mice. BMC Neurosci 2013; 14: 63
• 11 Liang CY, Liu YC, Shieh TY, Lin JR, Tseng YC, Teng AYT. Experience of early childhood caries may positively correlate with psychomotor development. Oral Health Prev Dent 2015; 13 (04) 365-375
• 12 Çolak H, Dülgergil CT, Dalli M, Hamidi MM. Early childhood caries update: a review of causes, diagnoses, and treatments. J Nat Sci Biol Med 2013; 4 (01) 29-38
• 13 Kaya MS, Akyuz S, Guclu B, Diracoglu D, Yarat A. Masticatory parameters of children with and without clinically diagnosed caries in permanent dentition. Eur J Paediatr Dent 2017; 18 (02) 116-120
• 14 Liang CY, Liu YG, Shieh TY, Tseng YC, Teng AYT. Higher Levels of Early Childhood Caries (ECC) is associated with developing psychomotor deficiency: the cross- sectional bi-township analysis for the new hypothesis. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2019; 16 (17) 3082
• 15 Liu YCG, Shieh TY, Teng AYT. Is caries an independent risk factor for the child's psychomotor development? - a new insight to potentially shed the underlying mechanisms. J Dent Sci 2018; 13 (03) 179-181
• 16 Teng AYT, Liang CY, Liu YCG. Socio-economic status may associate different risk(s) with early childhood caries (ECC) that can cause the development of psychomotor deficiency in preschool children aged 3-6 years old: the results of preliminary analysis from a cohort study. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2021; 18 (17) 9011
• 17 Liang CY, Teng AYT, Liu YC. Early childhood caries is causally attributed to developing psychomotor deficiency in pre-school children: the resultant covariate and confounder analyses in a longitudinal cohort study. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2022; 19 (11) 6831
• 18 Janus M, Reid-Westoby C, Lee C, Brownell M, Maguire JL. Association between severe unaddressed dental needs and developmental health at school entry in Canada: a cross-sectional study. BMC Pediatr 2019; 19 (01) 481
• 19 Schluter PJ, Kokaua J, Lee M. Severe early childhood caries: a modern (neglected) epidemic?. N Z Med J 2020; 133 (1518) 10-18
• 20 Barbosa TdeS, Tureli MCD, Nobre-dos-Santos M, Puppin-Rontani RM, Gavião MBD. The relationship between oral conditions, masticatory performance and oral health-related quality of life in children. Arch Oral Biol 2013; 58 (09) 1070-1077
• 21 Andrew L, Wallace R, Wickens N, Patel J. Early childhood caries, primary caregiver oral health knowledge and behaviours and associated sociological factors in Australia: a systematic scoping review. BMC Oral Health 2021; 21 (01) 521
• 22 Kagihara LE, Niederhauser VP, Stark M. Assessment, management, and prevention of early childhood caries. J Am Acad Nurse Pract 2009; 21 (01) 1-10
• 23 Tedjosasongko U, Kozai K. Initial acquisition and transmission of mutans streptococci in children at day nursery. ASDC J Dent Child 2002; 69 (03) 284-288 , 234–235
• 24 Bottner A, He RY, Sarbu A. et al. Streptococcus mutans isolated from children with severe-early childhood caries form higher levels of persisters. Arch Oral Biol 2020; 110: 104601
• 25 Lamont RJ, Koo H, Hajishengallis G. The oral microbiota: dynamic communities and host interactions. Nat Rev Microbiol 2018; 16 (12) 745-759
• 26 Collado V, Pichot H, Delfosse C, Eschevins C, Nicolas E, Hennequin M. Impact of early childhood caries and its treatment under general anesthesia on orofacial function and quality of life: a prospective comparative study. Med Oral Patol Oral Cir Bucal 2017; 22 (03) e333-e341
• 27 Khanh LN, Ivey SL, Sokal-Gutierrez K. et al. Early childhood caries, mouth pain, and nutritional threats in Vietnam. Am J Public Health 2015; 105 (12) 2510-2517
• 28 Folayan MO, El Tantawi M, Schroth RJ. et al; Early Childhood Caries Advocacy Group. Associations between early childhood caries, malnutrition and anemia: a global perspective. BMC Nutr 2020; 6 (01) 16
• 29 Eid SA, Khattab NMA, Elheeny AAH. Untreated dental caries prevalence and impact on the quality of life among 11 to14-year-old Egyptian schoolchildren: a cross-sectional study. BMC Oral Health 2020; 20 (01) 83
• 30 Gudipaneni RK, Alam MK, Patil SR, Karobari MI. Measurement of the maximum occlusal bite force and its relation to the caries spectrum of first permanent molars in early permanent dentition. J Clin Pediatr Dent 2020; 44 (06) 423-428
• 31 Shim SH, Han DH, Khang YH. Association between dental caries and delayed growth in Korean children. Caries Res 2018; 52 (1-2): 71-77
• 32 Clarke M, Locker D, Berall G, Pencharz P, Kenny DJ, Judd P. Malnourishment in a population of young children with severe early childhood caries. Pediatr Dent 2006; 28 (03) 254-259
• 33 Sun KT, Chen SC, Li YF. et al. Bite-force difference among obese adolescents in central Taiwan. J Formos Med Assoc 2016; 115 (06) 404-410
• 34 Bramantoro T, Irmalia WR, Santoso CMA. et al The effect of caries on the chewing ability of children: a scoping review. Eur J Dent 2023; 17 (04) 1012-1019
• 35 Khong JSY, Goh AT, Sim YF, Lai BWP, Forde CG, Hong CHL. Masticatory function after comprehensive dental treatment in children with severe early childhood caries. Int J Paediatr Dent 2020; 2021: 1-9
• 36 Owais AI, Al-Battah AH, Abu Alhaija ES. Changes in occlusal bite force following placement of preformed metal crowns on primary molars in 4-6 years old children: a 6 months' follow-up pilot study. Eur Arch Paediatr Dent 2019; 20 (01) 9-14
• 37 Subramaniam P, Girish Babu KL. Ifzah. Effect of restoring carious teeth on occlusal bite force in children. J Clin Pediatr Dent 2016; 40 (04) 297-300
• 38 Linas N, Peyron MA, Eschevins C, Hennequin M, Nicolas E, Collado V. Natural food mastication capability in preschool children according to their oral condition: a preliminary study. J Texture Stud 2020; 51 (05) 755-765
• 39 Souto-Souza D, Soares MEC, Primo-Miranda EF, Pereira LJ, Ramos-Jorge ML, Ramos-Jorge J. The influence of malocclusion, sucking habits and dental caries in the masticatory function of preschool children. Braz Oral Res 2020; 34: e059
• 40 Kubo K, Chen H, Onozuka M. The relationship between mastication and cognition. In: Zhiwei Wang HI. ed. Senescence and Senescence-Related Disorders. Croatia: InTech; 2013: 116-34
• 41 Chen H, Iinuma M, Onozuka M, Kubo KY. Chewing maintains hippocampus-dependent cognitive function. Int J Med Sci 2015; 12 (06) 502-509
• 42 Watanabe Y, Hirano H, Matsushita K. How masticatory function and periodontal disease relate to senile dementia. Jpn Dent Sci Rev 2015; 51 (01) 34-40
• 43 Almotairy N, Kumar A, Grigoriadis A. Effect of food hardness on chewing behavior in children. Clin Oral Investig 2021; 25 (03) 1203-1216
• 44 Sunariani J, Khoswanto C, Irmalia WR. Difference of brain-derived neurotrophic factor expression and pyramid cell count during mastication of food with varying hardness. J Appl Oral Sci 2019; 27: e20180182
• 45 Tada A, Miura H. Association between mastication and cognitive status: a systematic review. Arch Gerontol Geriatr 2017; 70: 44-53
• 46 Morquette P, Lavoie R, Fhima MD, Lamoureux X, Verdier D, Kolta A. Generation of the masticatory central pattern and its modulation by sensory feedback. Prog Neurobiol 2012; 96 (03) 340-355
• 47 Utsugi C, Miyazono S, Osada K. et al. Hard-diet feeding recovers neurogenesis in the subventricular zone and olfactory functions of mice impaired by soft-diet feeding. PLoS One 2014; 9 (05) e97309
• 48 Onozuka M, Hirano Y, Tachibana A. et al. Interactions between chewing and brain activity in humans. In: Onozuka M., Yen CT.. (eds) Novel Trends in Brain Science. Springer; Tokyo:
• 49 Azuma K, Zhou Q, Niwa M, Kubo KY. Association between Mastication, the hippocampus, and the HPA axis: a comprehensive review. Int J Mol Sci 2017; 18 (08) 1687
• 50 Krishnamoorthy G, Narayana AI, Balkrishanan D. Mastication as a tool to prevent cognitive dysfunctions. Jpn Dent Sci Rev 2018; 54 (04) 169-173
• 51 Sherwood L. Introduction to Human Physiology. . 8th ed United States: Brooks/Cole; 2013
• 52 Onozuka M, Fujita M, Watanabe K. et al. Mapping brain region activity during chewing: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study. J Dent Res 2002; 81 (11) 743-746
• 53 Kubo KY, Chen H, Zhou X, Liu JH, Darbin O. Chewing, stress-related diseases, and brain function. BioMed Res Int 2015; 2015: 412493
• 54 Kim MS, Oh B, Yoo JW, Han DH. The association between mastication and mild cognitive impairment in Korean adults. Medicine (Baltimore) 2020; 99 (23) e20653
• 55 Kawahata M, Ono Y, Ohno A, Kawamoto S, Kimoto K, Onozuka M. Loss of molars early in life develops behavioral lateralization and impairs hippocampus-dependent recognition memory. BMC Neurosci 2014; 15: 4
• 56 Hioki Y, Iinuma M, Kurata C, Ichihashi Y, Tamura Y. Kubo K ya. Effects of early tooth loss on the hippocampus in senescence-accelerated mice. Pediatr Dent J 2009; 19 (02) 196-205
• 57 Yamada K, Ono Y, Kubo KY, Yamamoto T, Onozuka M. Occlusal disharmony transiently impairs learning and memory in the mouse by increasing dynorphin a levels in the amygdala. Tohoku J Exp Med 2013; 230 (01) 49-57
• 58 Ekuni D, Endo Y, Tomofuji T. et al. Effects of apoE deficiency and occlusal disharmony on amyloid-beta production and spatial memory in rats. PLoS One 2013; 8 (09) e74966
• 59 Okihara H, Ito J, Kokai S. et al. Liquid diet induces memory impairment accompanied by a decreased number of hippocampal neurons in mice. J Neurosci Res 2014; 92 (08) 1010-1017
• 60 Nose-Ishibashi K, Watahiki J, Yamada K. et al. Soft-diet feeding after weaning affects behavior in mice: potential increase in vulnerability to mental disorders. Neuroscience 2014; 263: 257-268
• 61 Menix KD. Domains of learning: interdependent components of achievable learning outcomes. J Contin Educ Nurs 1996; 27 (05) 200-208
• 62 Cioni G, Sgandurra G. Normal psychomotor development. Handb Clin Neurol 2013; 111: 3-15
• 63 Johnson NC, Sandy JR. Tooth position and speech–is there a relationship?. Angle Orthod 1999; 69 (04) 306-310