Breastfeeding Protects from Overjet in Adolescence by Reducing Pacifier Use: A Birth Cohort Study
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Petracco, Laura Boianovsky
Nascimento, Gustavo G
Li, Huihua
Vítolo, Márcia Regina
Peres, Karen Glazer
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Abstract
Increased dental overjet in adolescence is a clinically relevant outcome associated with the complexity and high cost of treatment, indicating the need for prevention strategies. We investigated the long-term impact of breastfeeding and pacifier use on increased overjet (IOVJ) in permanent dentition. A prospective cohort nested in a randomized controlled trial was conducted from birth to 12 years of age (n = 214). Breastfeeding and pacifier use were recorded monthly until 12 months. Overjet was assessed at age 12 years. We employed a causal mediation analysis using parametric regression models assuming no interaction between breastfeeding and pacifier usage. We found a total protective effect of breastfeeding on IOVJ (OR 0.49; 95% CI 0.28–0.96), where 63.1% were mediated by pacifier use (OR 0.61; 95% CI 0.44–0.87). Breastfeeding directly decreased the odds of IOVJ by 20%; however, the confidence interval included the null estimate (OR 0.81; 95% CI 0.41–1.60). In conclusion, breastfeeding protects by half of the IOVJ in adolescence through reducing pacifier use. Oral and general health professionals should collaborate to support WHO breastfeeding guidelines during individual patient counseling. Guidelines for practice, policy or public information require messages that include a common risk approach to oral and general health.
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Nutrients
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15
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15
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© 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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Clinical sciences
Nutrition and dietetics
Public health
breastfeeding
causal inference
cohort studies
malocclusion
pacifier
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Feldens, CA; Petracco, LB; Nascimento, GG; Li, H; Vítolo, MR; Peres, KG, Breastfeeding Protects from Overjet in Adolescence by Reducing Pacifier Use: A Birth Cohort Study, Nutrients, 2023, 15 (15), pp. 3403