Does mothers’ oral microbiome seed children’s microbiome, increasing caries risk?

According to media outlet Eureka Alert, "Associations between poor maternal oral health and risk of early childhood caries (ECC) suggest transmission of microbes from mother to child could influence ECC risk. The researchers tested if the maternal salivary microbiome seeds a cariogenic salivary community.”

The presentation revealed that, “Ninety-nine children with white spots or lesions (diagnosed before six-years of age) and 90 age-matched controls using incidence-density-sampling from the Center for Oral Health Research in Appalachia 2 (COHRA2) cohort were selected.

“Children provided saliva samples at two and 12-months and yearly thereafter. Maternal saliva samples from the two-month visit were available for 90 children with one and two-year samples. Saliva samples were sequenced for the V4 region of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene to measure the bacterial community. The researchers identified ECC-associated taxa using random forests and tested if the presence and abundance of cariogenic taxa associated with presence and abundance in maternal samples.