Breastfeeding vs Bottle feeding: Dental caries
- Population
- Children with exclusively primary dentition (age ≤71 months)
- Intervention
- Breastfeeding
- Comparison
- Bottle feeding
- Outcome
- Dental caries
In a meta-analysis of two cross-sectional studies, breastfed children had lower odds of dental caries than bottle-fed children (OR 0.43, 95% CI 0.23 to 0.80); certainty was not formally graded.
What each review found
Current versions only| Finding | Effect | Studies | GRADE certainty |
|---|---|---|---|
Breastfeeding vs Bottle feeding Presence of dental caries · Children with exclusively primary dentition (age ≤71 months) · Hospital and health centre (Kuwait); suburban kindergartens (China) In a meta-analysis of two cross-sectional studies, breastfed children had lower odds of dental caries than bottle-fed children (OR 0.43, 95% CI 0.23 to 0.80); certainty was not formally graded. Breast and Bottle Feeding as Risk Factors for Dental Caries: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. (2015) All outcomes | OR 0.43 [0.23, 0.80] | 2 studies · 620 participants | GRADE not reported |
Breastfeeding vs Bottle feeding Presence of dental caries · Children with exclusively primary dentition (age ≤71 months) · Kindergartens, hospitals and health centres; Kuwait, China, Syria, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Italy Across seven observational studies, four found significantly less dental caries with breastfeeding and three found no significant difference; the review judged the overall ungraded evidence to favour breastfeeding as protective. Breast and Bottle Feeding as Risk Factors for Dental Caries: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. (2015) All outcomes | Four studies showed that bottle fed children had more dental caries (p<0.05), while three studies found no such association (p>0.05); the review concluded that breastfeeding can protect against dental caries in early… | 7 studies | GRADE not reported |
Findings are shown side by side, never pooled across reviews.
The reviews
| Review | Searched up to | Included studies | AMSTAR 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Breast and Bottle Feeding as Risk Factors for Dental Caries: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. 2015 All outcomes | March 2014; updated March 2015 | 11 | Not applicable |
Studies behind the findings
The primary studies the full-text reviews tie to this outcome. Reviews with headline outcomes only do not list them here.
- Feeding and smoking habits as cumulative risk factors for early childhood caries in toddlers, after adjustment for several behavioral… · 2014 · included by 1 of these review
- Effect of feeding practices on dental caries among preschool children: a hospital based analytical cross sectional study. · 2014 · included by 1 of these review
- Early childhood caries and feeding practices in kindergarten children. · 2012 · included by 1 of these review
- Caries in preschool children and its risk factors in 2 provinces in China. · 2007 · included by 1 of these review
- Caries patterns and their relationship to infant feeding and socio-economic status in 2-4-year-old Chinese children. · 2000 · included by 1 of these review
- Breast feeding, bottle feeding and dental caries in Kuwait, a country with low-fluoride levels in the water supply. · 1995 · included by 1 of these review
- Patterns of breast and bottle feeding and their association with dental caries in 1- to 4-year-old South African children. 2. A case… · 1994 · included by 1 of these review
- Perera et al. (2014) · included by 1 of these review
- Al-Dashti et al. (1995) · included by 1 of these review
- Qadri et al. (2012) · included by 1 of these review
- Roberts et al. (1994) · included by 1 of these review
How reviews are matched to this question
Reviews word the same question differently. Four decision models (TypeSafe's Jev, Liquid AI's d1-ultra, SubQ Snap and Baseten's Elephant) judged each wording of the population, intervention, comparator and outcome against the others; two wordings count as the same when at least three of them agree and none clearly disagrees, and findings count as this question only when all four elements match. Timing, setting and subgroup never split a question: they are shown on each finding.