A year‑long study of 3‑year‑old kids found that the biggest risk factors for early cavities are things like poor oral hygiene, longer breastfeeding, not having a personal dentist, and the mother’s own dental health. The saliva tests for LL‑37 (a cathelicidin peptide) and other antimicrobial peptides didn’t predict cavities, so measuring or boosting LL‑37 isn’t useful for preventing tooth decay in preschoolers.

BACKGROUND The study examined and compared the significance of sociodemographic, oral health behavior, and maternal factors, as well as salivary pH and salivary levels of human neutrophil peptide 1 (HNP-1), human b defensin 2 (hBD-2), and human cathelicidin (LL-37) as early caries predictors in 3-year-olds. MATERIAL AND METHODS A 1-year observational prospective study was conducted. The study included 165 caries-free children aged 36-48 months and their mothers. At baseline data were collected through a questionnaire for mothers and clinical examination of the children. For certain children (N=35), unstimulated saliva samples were collected to determine salivary pH using a digital portable pH meter and salivary levels of HNP-1, hBD-2, and LL-37 peptides using ELISA. After 12 months, caries incidence was determined. The caries-predictive significance of factors was estimated by logistic regression analysis. RESULTS After 1 year, caries was diagnosed in 29.1% of the children. Univariate logistic regression analysis revealed that the potentially most significant caries predictors in 3-year-olds were debris index >1 (OR 6.324, P<0.001), breastfeeding duration (OR 1.017, P=0.001), lack of a personal dentist (OR 2.454, P=0.012), and poor dental health of the mother (OR 10.521, P<0.001). The multivariate model confirmed that these variables are the potentially most significant caries predictors in 3-year-olds. CONCLUSIONS This 1-year study showed that the most significant early caries predictors in 3-year-olds are debris index, breastfeeding length, lack of a personal dentist, and poor dental health of mothers. The tested salivary parameters did not show caries-predictive significance.