Abstract
Objective: Low folic acid, folate and vitamin B12 might affect tooth formation and mineralization. The conversion of folic acid into folate is catalysed by the methylenetetrahydrofolate (MTHFR) enzyme which is encoded by the MTHFR gene. Among 3728 mothers and their 10-year-old children from the Generation R Study, we investigated associations of maternal folic acid supplementation and prenatal folate and vitamin B12 concentrations with child dental development. Secondly, we checked the modifying effect of MTHFR-C677T polymorphism. Methods: Information on folic acid supplementation was obtained by questionnaires. Concentrations of folate and vitamin B12 were measured from venous samples taken in early pregnancy. Developmental stages of teeth were defined by the Demirjian method at the age-10 assessment. In addition, dental age of the children was calculated using the Dutch standard. GLM and multivariate linear regression models were built to study the associations. Results: Folic acid supplementation started when pregnancy was known (β = −0.09; 95% CI: −0.17, −0.01) and folic acid supplementation started prior to known pregnancy (β = −0.12; 95% CI: −0.20, −0.04) were both associated with decelerated dental development by 1-2 months lower dental age of 10-year-old children. Folate (β = −0.02, 95% CI: −0.05, 0.02) and vitamin B12 (β = 0.03, 95% CI: −0.00, 0.06) were not associated with dental age. MTHFR-C677T did not modify the associations. Conclusions: Maternal folic acid supplementation delays dental development of children by 1-2 months dental age, whereas maternal folate and vitamin B12 concentrations in early pregnancy do not affect the timing of child dental development.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 445-453 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology |
| Volume | 49 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 24 Jan 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The Generation R Study is conducted by the Erasmus University Medical Center in close collaboration with the School of Law and Faculty of Social Sciences of the Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Municipal Health Service Rotterdam area, Rotterdam, the Rotterdam Homecare Foundation, Rotterdam and the StichtingTrombosedienst and ArtsenlaboratoriumRijnmond (STAR), Rotterdam. We gratefully acknowledge the contribution of participating mothers, general practitioners, hospitals, midwives and pharmacies in Rotterdam. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors. Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
