Abstract
Background: The association between tooth decay, an excessive-sugar weight-reduction plan, and negative oral hygiene is properly established within the literature. But, while assessing the affiliation among breastfeeding and caries sickness, studies show extra debatable consequences. Some researchers have suggested that tooth decay is the best unfavorable outcome related to breastfeeding in children older than one year 6-eight, at the same time as others contend that it is a protective factor towards caries. Aim: This work aims to determine the effect of sufficient breastfeeding and the risk of dental caries in infants. Materials and Methods: A systematic search was performed over different medical databases to identify Dentistry studies, which studied the outcome of the sufficiently breastfed group versus the Less sufficiently breastfed group of breastfed infants. Using the meta-analysis process, either with fixed or random-effects models, we conducted a meta-analysis on the incidence of dental caries in more than 6-months breastfeeding (as a primary main outcome). Results: Five studies were identified involving 4388 infants, with 2717 infants in the sufficiently breastfed group, and 1671 infants in the Less sufficiently breastfed group. The meta-analysis process revealed a highly significant decrease in the incidence of dental caries in the sufficiently breastfed group compared to the Less sufficiently breastfed group, in breastfed infants (p<0.001). Conclusion: To conclude, the prevalence of dental caries was very low. Frequent consumption of factory-made bottle-feeding was associated with higher odds of developing dental caries. Breastfeeding and breastfeeding at night had a protective effect on dental caries.