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OC28 - Effect of mode of delivery on early oral colonization and childhood dental caries: a systematic review.

UNLABELLED Theme: Multidisciplinary team working. BACKGROUND Oral colonization starts at birth by vertical transmission. OBJECTIVE To determine whether mode of delivery influences the oral colonization of infants and contributes to the risk of childhood dental caries. METHODS A systematic review was conducted in the electronic database Web of Science for articles published from January 1995 to December 2015 by using a set of keywords. RESULTS From 2,644 citations identified through electronic search, ten studies met the inclusion criteria. According to the studies mode of delivery influences oral microbial density, oral microbial profile and the timing of oral colonization by cariogenic microbiota. However, there are no consistent results concerning either the prevalence of children harboring cariogenic microbiota or the prevalence of early childhood caries by mode of delivery. CONCLUSION Mode of delivery influences early oral colonization. However, it seems that other determinants rather than mode of delivery could be major contributors to the development of early childhood caries.