Oral Health Support Helps Reduce Dental Caries in Infants at High Risk

Masatoshi OTSUGU, Kazuhiko NAKANO
Pediatric Dentistry

Takafumi KATO
Oral Physiology

A research group, in collaboration with the Toyonaka Dental Association and Toyonaka City, conducted a study focusing on participants of infant health checkups in Toyonaka City. The findings indicated that infants whose primary teeth erupted earlier had a higher risk of dental caries than those whose teeth erupted within the typical age range. Furthermore, among children who were breastfed for a prolonged period, receiving oral health support around the time of primary tooth eruption was associated with a lower incidence of subsequent dental caries.

These research findings have been published as three separate papers in the international scientific journals “BMC Oral Health” (September 16, 2023), “Scientific Reports” (November 27, 2025), and “Nutrients” (December 10, 2025).

Published Research Papers:

“The number of erupted teeth as a risk factor for dental caries in eighteen-month-old children: a cross sectional study”
・BMC Oral Health,September 16, 2023
・DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12903-023-03394-0

“Breastfeeding and early tooth eruption as predictors of dental caries occurrence throughout childhood”
・Scientific Reports,November 27, 2025
・DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-26515-x

“A longitudinal study on dental caries focusing on long-term breastfed children in Japan”
・Nutrients,December 9, 2025
・DOI:https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17243846