Maternal influences on oral microbiome development and implications for early childhood health: a systematic review.
Level 3 - non-randomized controlled study
Systematic review of observational longitudinal cohort studies
PubMed 41773937 · doi:10.1128/iai.00585-25
What was done
A systematic review was conducted across PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Embase through June 2025 to examine maternal influences on infant oral microbiome development from birth to age 5. Inclusion criteria required longitudinal designs, healthy mother-child dyads, saliva sample collection, and relevant age follow-up. Twelve studies met criteria, and findings were synthesized qualitatively across developmental stages.
What was found
The abstract reports qualitative narrative findings and provides no numerical data, odds ratios, or statistical effect sizes across the 12 studies. The literature demonstrated that the neonatal oral microbiome begins unspecialized and is predominantly derived from maternal strains. Rapid selection for typical oral species occurs in the initial weeks after birth. Microbiome diversity and similarity to maternal profiles increase throughout the first year, reaching relative stability between 3 and 5 years of age.
Why it matters
This review outlines the chronological trajectory of maternal microbial seeding and establishment in early childhood oral health. Understanding these baseline colonization dynamics helps target future interventions to prevent dysbiosis and early childhood oral disease.
Limits
The abstract does not report aggregate sample size, strain-level metrics, or meta-analytic effect estimates. The findings are restricted to observational cohorts with salivary sampling only, and the review notes unresolved confounding from delivery mode, timing of tooth eruption, and parental lifestyle behaviors.
Cited by
- context Forty percent of the oral biofilm in adults is established during childhood and remains highly stable.