The Relationship between Preterm Birth and the Presence of Early Childhood Caries: A Scoping Review

Aim: The rate of premature births in the past 20 years has increased up to 10 out of 100 births worldwide; birth conditions can change the dental structure and can eventually influence the susceptibility to dental caries in children. The aim of this scoping review is to summarize the available evidence on the relationship between preterm birth and the development of early childhood caries (ECC). Materials and Methods: A systematic search was performed in PubMed, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Lilacs, and Epistemonikos up to January 6, 2022. Two authors screened studies by title and abstract and by full text to select those that fulfilled the eligibility criteria (observational/randomized clinical trials/systematic reviews that assess dental caries in primary dentition and premature delivery in children between 1 and 6 years old with cavities in deciduous teeth and published in Spanish, English, and Portuguese. Studies combining deciduous and permanent teeth, and with patients that had dental trauma were excluded). Any disagreement between the two reviewers during the selection process was solved by discussion, and a third reviewer got involved in case of disagreement. Two reviewers independently extracted data from the included studies. Results: We identified 1480 studies from the initial search resulting in 17 studies included in this scoping review. Six studies were cross-sectional, three were cohort studies, five were case-control, two studies were systematic reviews, and one was a meta-analysis. In terms of the association between dental caries and prematurity, conclusions of the included studies are controversial. Nine studies concluded that there is no relationship; six studies demonstrated that there is a relationship, and two studies did not specify whether there is a relationship between dental caries and prematurity. Conclusion: We found that there is no conclusive evidence to demonstrate if there is a relationship between ECC and prematurity because of the high ambiguity of the evidence. It is necessary to carry out more prospective cohort studies with a larger sample size and a defined premature population who are followed up for a longer period when they have a complete deciduous dentition.