Study finds increased risk of dental decay in children breastfed beyond two years of age

The research findings have been published in Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Because of the known benefits of breastfeeding to children’s health, the authors, led by Professor Karen Glazer Peres of the University of Adelaide, say that breastfeeding should not be discouraged but instead, that parents should adopt measures to prevent dental caries as early as possible.

Professor Emeritus Andrew Rugg-Gunn, an advisor to the British Society of Paediatric Dentistry (BSPD), and an international authority on children’s oral health, said the results of this study are significant. The authors analysed the impact of sugar in the diet and the role of Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans), the most common bacterium associated with dental caries. 

They found that breastfeeding after the age of two years remains associated with severe early childhood caries independent of sugar consumption and the presence of S. mutans. This is important as previous studies have not examined each potential risk factor in isolation, making it sometimes difficult to establish which factor is causing the decay.