Journal of Dental Research最新文献

{"title":"Predatory Publications Bias the Findings of Orthodontic Meta-analyses","authors":"M.P. Maroulakos, Z. Tatas, D. Al-Moghrabi, N. Pandis, P.S. Fleming","doi":"10.1177/00220345261466209","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00220345261466209","url":null,"abstract":"This study quantified how frequently questionable publications by predatory or suspect journals appear in orthodontic evidence syntheses and examined whether inclusion of these studies influences pooled estimates in orthodontic systematic reviews (SRs) with meta-analyses (MAs). Orthodontic SRs with MAs published in English between January 1, 2020, and December 31, 2023, were identified through multiple databases. One MA per SR (prioritized primary outcome/earliest time point) was selected when data were extractable from forest plots. Journals were classified as legitimate, suspect, or predatory using a prespecified approach. For MAs containing at least 1 predatory or suspect study, pooled effect estimates were recalculated under 2 scenarios using random-effects models (restricted maximum likelihood), including 1) all studies and 2) legitimate studies only. Changes were assessed using differences in the pooled estimates between scenarios. From 10,905 records, 340 orthodontic SRs with accessible meta-analytical data were included, most commonly addressing treatment modalities (32.4%). Among the 1,992 primary studies identified, most were published in journals indexed in Medline ( <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">n</jats:italic> = 1,494; 75%). Overall, 16.2% of SRs were published in predatory or suspect (questionable) journals. One-third of selected MAs (114/340; 33.5%) included at least 1 questionable primary study published in a predatory or suspect journal, and 21.4% (73/340) included at least 1 primary study published in a predatory journal. The inclusion of questionable primary studies was similar whether the SR was published in a legitimate (33.7%), suspect (30%), or predatory journal (33.3%). In the final reanalysis set ( <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">n</jats:italic> = 106), the pooled estimate decreased in 55% and increased in 45% of MAs after removal of suspect/predatory studies. Predatory and suspect publications are present in 1 in 3 orthodontic meta-analyses and may influence the pooled estimates. Routine legitimacy screening, study quality assessment, and sensitivity analyses excluding questionable studies should be integrated into evidence synthesis and editorial assessment in orthodontics.","PeriodicalId":15596,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Dental Research","volume":"25 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2026-07-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148612530","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Mapping Antibiotic Resistance Determinants in Oral Streptococci","authors":"K.S.M. Shawrob, A.S. Sagen, T.M. Lunde, B. Sribasgaran, S. Ghafoor, M. Al-Haroni, R.A. Gladstone, G. Salvadori, R. Junges","doi":"10.1177/00220345261462871","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00220345261462871","url":null,"abstract":"Antibiotic resistance is a global priority in health care. Leveraging thousands of whole-genome sequences, here we reveal the core resistance determinants of oral streptococci, focusing on assessing pattern variability and gene exchange across commensals and pathogens. Genomic information was obtained from the National Center for Biotechnology Information. Determinants of antibiotic resistance were identified using AMRFinderPlus and the Comprehensive Antibiotic Resistance Database. ICEscreen was employed for calling of integrative and conjugative elements. Variability and recombination in penicillin-binding protein sequences were assessed with MMseqs2 and fastGEAR. A total of 2,087 genomes from 15 species were included, representing the mitis, mutans, anginosus, salivarius, and bovis groups. We observed 3,576 hits from 55 unique resistance genes conferring resistance to 11 antibiotic classes. The species with the most resistance determinants per genome against unique antibiotic classes were <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Streptococcus mitis</jats:italic> (2.7), <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Streptococcus oralis</jats:italic> (2.5), <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Streptococcus parasanguinis</jats:italic> (1.9), <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Streptococcus gallolyticus</jats:italic> (1.3), and <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Streptococcus anginosus</jats:italic> (1.2). The 2 latter species also presented the most diverse composition of determinants. Over 1,800 integrative and conjugative elements were predicted across all genomes, with nearly 17% carrying at least 1 antibiotic resistance gene. Penicillin-binding protein variation analyses showed a high diversity in the mitis group. Even though <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">S. mitis</jats:italic> and <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">S. oralis</jats:italic> composed less than 4% of the genomes included in the analyses, they were recognized as sources of DNA for over a third of recombination events in <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">pbp1a</jats:italic> and nearly half for both <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">pbp2b</jats:italic> and <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">pbp2x</jats:italic> in β-lactam-resistant isolates of <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Streptococcus pneumoniae</jats:italic> . In summary, we show that tetracycline and macrolide resistance were highly abundant and tightly connected to integrative and conjugative elements. Further, recent recombination data in <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">pbp</jats:italic> loci show frequent genetic exchange from oral streptococci to β-lactam-resistant <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">S. pneumoniae</jats:italic> . Fundamentally, assessing triggers and the dynamics of genetic exchange across species is central to the development of strategies aiming to mitigate the impact of antibiotic resistance.","PeriodicalId":15596,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Dental Research","volume":"23 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2026-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148582271","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Welcome to the Table","authors":"N. J. D’Silva","doi":"10.1177/00220345261458708","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00220345261458708","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":15596,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Dental Research","volume":"19 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2026-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148582274","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Multispecialty Dental EMRs from Chairside Audio: An Exploratory Study","authors":"L. Wei, Y. Wang, J. Lu, H. Wang, Y. Cao, D. Ma, J. Wu, Y. Tong, W. Xu, Y. Wang, J.K.-H. Tsoi, J. Xu","doi":"10.1177/00220345261464508","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00220345261464508","url":null,"abstract":"The objective of this study was to develop and internally evaluate a modular large language model (LLM) system for generating standardized electronic medical records (EMRs) from dental chairside consultations under conditions of acoustic interference and specialty-specific heterogeneity. We built a controllable pipeline integrating multistage audio enhancement and local automatic speech recognition with a cascaded LLM generator. A baseline end-to-end system (system 1) was compared with an evidence-enhanced system (system 2) that added module A (multisource evidence capture and fact table construction) and module B (multiversion collaboration and consensus voting; <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">N</jats:italic> = 3, consensus ≥2/3). We evaluated 100 deidentified outpatient recordings from periodontics, orthodontics, and prosthodontics. Output quality was assessed by double-blind clinician scoring and an automated scoring system across completeness, language quality, medical accuracy, and structural standardization (0 to 100 per dimension). System 1 achieved clinically acceptable performance across models, with Kimi-K2 showing the highest stability. System 2 improved robustness with standard deviation reductions of 33.8% (periodontics), 55.9% (orthodontics), and 42.6% (prosthodontics), with the largest gains in complex prosthodontic cases. Analysis of dataset characteristics and acoustic patterns confirmed the clinical authenticity of the corpus and established its suitability for performance evaluation. Artificial intelligence–generated scores correlated with human expert ratings ( <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">r</jats:italic> = 0.823; <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">R</jats:italic> <jats:sup>2</jats:sup> = 0.678) with a stable positive bias (mean difference 12.54 points). Our evidence-grounded and consensus-constrained LLM system demonstrated methodological feasibility for generating EMRs from authentic chairside audio, with improvements in medical accuracy and consistency and reduced variability in complex clinical workflows.","PeriodicalId":15596,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Dental Research","volume":"35 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2026-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148582287","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"COLLECT: A Counterfactual Oral Lesion Library for Trustworthy AI Evaluation","authors":"K.T. Tafti, Z. D’Souza, A. Ajam, P. Chauvin, M. Magalhaes, J. Fuoco, F.F. Sperandio, M. Al-Shehri, A. Tichy, F. Tamimi, M. Ducret, F. Schwendicke, S. Madathil","doi":"10.1177/00220345261466240","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00220345261466240","url":null,"abstract":"Intraoral mucosal lesions are difficult to diagnose because they vary widely in appearance and cause. Deep-learning models perform well for oral lesion classification, but limited interpretability restricts clinical use. Counterfactual explanations, which modify image features to test model sensitivity, offer a practical way to improve transparency, yet no counterfactual dataset exists for intraoral images. This study presents COLLECT, the Counterfactual Oral Lesion Library for Explainable Concept Testing, a curated counterfactual reference dataset and evaluation framework for intraoral lesion images, along with a workflow for assessing model interpretability. COLLECT includes 600 manually edited counterfactual images across 4 lesion types: aphthous ulcer, geographic tongue, hairy tongue, and oral squamous cell carcinoma. Images were modified along clinically important concepts such as size, color, and opacity. We assessed the interpretability of common convolutional neural networks using true class probability, predictive entropy, testing with concept activation vectors (TCAV), and attribution scores. Counterfactual edits reduced true class probability and increased entropy, with the strongest effects observed for opacity and color changes. TCAV results showed that early network layers were less responsive to concept changes, while later layers depended more on baseline features. Attribution scores confirmed that opacity changes lowered model confidence most, followed by color and size. Some models showed limited response to lesion removal, indicating reliance on background anatomy rather than lesion-specific cues. COLLECT supports the systematic evaluation of computer vision models under clinically grounded counterfactual conditions and provides a resource for improving transparency in the automated diagnosis of oral lesions.","PeriodicalId":15596,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Dental Research","volume":"35 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2026-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148582272","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Bioactive Janus Barrier Membrane Rejuvenates Bone Regeneration in Aging","authors":"L. Zhang, Y. Fu, X. Chen, Y. Hu, N. Sun, H. Zhang, Y. Yu, B. Ma, S. Ge","doi":"10.1177/00220345261464526","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00220345261464526","url":null,"abstract":"Aging significantly impairs guided bone regeneration (GBR) by disrupting stem cell recruitment and exacerbating cellular senescence. To address this challenge, we engineered a quercetin and Sr-hydroxyapatite/poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (QSHP) Janus barrier membrane. The asymmetric design featured a dense poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) layer for epithelial exclusion and a functionalized nanowire layer that enabled controlled codelivery of Sr <jats:sup>2+</jats:sup> and quercetin. In vitro, the QSHP membrane markedly enhanced the migration and proliferation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells while effectively mitigating H <jats:sub>2</jats:sub> O <jats:sub>2</jats:sub> -induced senescence and restoring osteogenic capacity. In aged rat mandibular defects, the QSHP membrane treatment yielded the highest newly formed bone volume and restored biomechanical properties approaching those of native bone. Histological and immunofluorescence analyses revealed accelerated early osteogenesis, increased recruitment of CD44 <jats:sup>+</jats:sup> stem cells, and concomitant attenuation of cellular senescence. Collectively, the QSHP membrane rejuvenates the senescence-impaired bone regenerative niche, enabling functional bone regeneration and offering a clinically promising strategy for GBR in aged patients.","PeriodicalId":15596,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Dental Research","volume":"42 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2026-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148582270","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Salivary Dipeptides and Microbiota Multiomics Biomarkers of Caries","authors":"S. Haworth, A. Esberg, L. Eriksson, H. Ahmed, C.I. Mack, S. Noerman, E. Nordin, B. Egert, K. Hanhineva, R. Landberg, C. Brunius, I. Johansson","doi":"10.1177/00220345261466143","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00220345261466143","url":null,"abstract":"Dental caries is a prevalent disease shaped by dietary and metabolic interactions between the host and oral microbiota. While separate microbiome and metabolome profiling have improved the understanding of caries etiology, integrated multiomics approaches remain underutilized. We aimed to identify salivary biomarkers of caries experience in a cross-sectional study combining microbiome, metabolome, sugarome, and diet, oral, and demographic information in 217 healthy Swedish adolescents and young adults. Participants underwent clinical examination, dietary assessment, and saliva analysis using full-length 16S rRNA gene sequencing, untargeted liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-MS) metabolomics, and 2-dimensional gas chromatography–MS (GC×GC-MS)–based sugar profiling. Caries signs and restorations were summarized as decayed and filled surfaces including enamel caries. Associations between caries experience, demographics, and omics measures were evaluated using a nested cross-validated linear-regression framework with inner-loop feature selection and outer-loop performance assessment, emphasizing effect-direction stability and reproducibility across cross-validation models. Selected OMICs features were then integrated using orthogonal partial least-squares (OPLS) modeling. Three salivary dipeptides (Ser-Pro, Phe-His, and Thr-Gly) showed robust inverse associations with caries experience. Several cariogenic taxa, including <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Streptococcus mutans</jats:italic> , <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Streptococcus sobrinus</jats:italic> , <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Lactobacillus gasseri</jats:italic> , and selected <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Actinomyces</jats:italic> and <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Prevotella</jats:italic> species, were positively associated with caries experience, whereas <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Veillonella rogosae</jats:italic> , <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Stomatobaculum</jats:italic> sp. HMT-097, and other taxa as well as 5 bacteria-predicted enzymes were associated with lower caries experience. Dietary variables and salivary sugars showed no consistent associations with caries experience. An integrated OPLS model incorporating demographics, microbiota composition, microbial-predicted enzymes, and metabolomics explained 41% of the variation in caries ( <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">R</jats:italic> <jats:sup>2</jats:sup> = 0.41) with a cross-validated predictive ability of 30% ( <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Q</jats:italic> <jats:sup>2</jats:sup> = 0.30). This saliva-based multiomics framework revealed coherent microbial and metabolic signatures of caries experience. The Ser-Pro dipeptide showed the strongest inverse association and warrants validation in longitudinal cohorts to establish temporal precedence and clinical utility as a novel caries biomarker.","PeriodicalId":15596,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Dental Research","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2026-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148582275","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Mouse MFGE8 high Skeletal Stem Cells Drive Osteogenesis via Matrix Mechanics","authors":"T. Yang, Z. Shan, Z. Gao, Z. Fan","doi":"10.1177/00220345261466239","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00220345261466239","url":null,"abstract":"The regeneration of large jawbone defects remains challenging as biological mechanisms that drive regional differences in mandibular osteogenesis are not well defined. To elucidate the intrinsic programs of skeletal stem cells (SSCs) that underlie these regional differences, we performed single-cell RNA sequencing of freshly isolated mouse mandibular cells. Single-cell RNA sequencing revealed site-dependent differences in immune cell composition between the mandibular body and ramus and uncovered a ramus-enriched SSC population characterized by high MFGE8 expression. Transcriptomic profiling further revealed that ramus-derived SSCs exhibit coordinated activation of extracellular matrix (ECM)–receptor interactions, focal adhesion, and ossification pathways. Compared with body SSCs, ramus SSCs exhibited superior osteogenic capacity both in vitro and in vivo, accompanied by enrichment of MFGE8 <jats:sup>+</jats:sup> SSCs. Consistent with these findings, MFGE8 knockdown impaired osteogenic differentiation in ramus SSCs, whereas recombinant MFGE8 enhanced osteogenic differentiation in body-derived SSCs. Mechanistically, MFGE8 modulation altered laminin expression and ECM viscoelastic behavior in SSCs, indicating that MFGE8 influences the mechanical properties of the local matrix environment. These effects require integrin-dependent signaling, as MFGE8 binds integrin β3 and promotes focal adhesion kinase (FAK) phosphorylation at the Y397 site. Moreover, inhibition of integrins or FAK abrogated MFGE8-induced osteogenic differentiation, demonstrating that integrin–FAK signaling is required for coupling MFGE8-associated matrix remodeling to osteogenic capacity. Together, these findings provide a mechanistic explanation for the enhanced osteogenic performance of ramus SSCs and identify MFGE8-mediated regulation of ECM biomechanics as a key role for improving jawbone regeneration.","PeriodicalId":15596,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Dental Research","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2026-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148582286","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Prevotella intermedia –Derived Extracellular Vesicles Promote Pulpitis","authors":"Q. Lei, X. Zou, X. Luo, X. Han, Y. Chen, S. Tan, B. Wen, S. Liu, D. Ma","doi":"10.1177/00220345261461507","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00220345261461507","url":null,"abstract":"Although bacterial infection is the primary etiological factor of pulpitis, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Bacterial extracellular vesicles (BEVs) play significant roles in the pathogenesis of infectious diseases independent of bacteria. However, the involvement of BEVs in pulpitis has yet to be explored. In this study, we investigated for the first time the specific mechanisms of action of EVs derived from <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Prevotella intermedia</jats:italic> (Pi) in pulpitis. Our results revealed that Pi-EVs were taken up by macrophages, which amplified their pathogenic effects, thereby inducing inflammation in dental pulp cells (DPCs) and contributing to the progression of pulpitis. Mechanistically, Pi-EVs caused macrophage necroptosis to promote interleukin-33 (IL-33) secretion. Secreted IL-33 subsequently targeted DPCs, inducing endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and driving the development of pulpitis. Taken together, our study identified Pi-EVs as a potential virulence factor in pulpitis and revealed a previously unrecognized pathogenic cascade: Pi-EVs – macrophage necroptosis – IL-33 – ER stress in DPCs. To our knowledge, this is the first investigation of pulpitis development from the perspective of bacterial extracellular vesicles. Our study expands the understanding of pulpitis pathogenesis by highlighting the role of bacterial–host cell interactions and may offer new targeted therapeutic strategies for pulpitis.","PeriodicalId":15596,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Dental Research","volume":"43 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2026-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148582278","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Systemic Inflammation and Molar Incisor Hypomineralisation: A Cohort Study","authors":"S. Shields, T. Chen, F. Crombie, D.J. Manton, M.L.K. Tang, S. Ranganathan, M. O’Hely, L. Sominsky, P. Vuillermin, A.-L. Ponsonby, R. Roring, T. Mansell, D.P. Burgner, M.J. Silva","doi":"10.1177/00220345261462862","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00220345261462862","url":null,"abstract":"Molar incisor hypomineralisation (MIH) is a common developmental dental defect of unknown etiology and considerable morbidity. Observational and experimental studies suggest systemic inflammation as a key mechanism, but there are no prospective human data. This study aimed to describe how the prevalence and severity of MIH vary with early childhood inflammation. It also aimed to investigate the extent to which early childhood inflammation affects the risk of MIH. Data were from the Barwon Infant Study, a population-based prebirth cohort. Glycoprotein acetyls (GlycA), measured by nuclear magnetic resonance, and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), measured by immunoassay, were quantified from prenatal maternal serum and infant plasma from birth, 6 mo, 12 mo, and 4 y. Cytokine/chemokine responses were also measured from samples collected at 4 y of age. MIH was diagnosed by standardized clinical dental examination at 9 to 13 y of age via the modified European Association of Paediatric Dentistry index. In total, 1,074 mother–infant dyads consented to participate; 481 participants had dental examinations at a mean of 11.9 y (standard deviation = 0.96), and the prevalence of MIH was 27% (n = 129). The unadjusted odds ratio for standardized hsCRP and GlycA showed no difference in the odds of MIH and when comparing the mild and severe MIH subgroups to the non-MIH group at any time point. The estimated average causal effect after adjusting for confounding showed that a 1-unit increase of GlycA measured at 12 mo of age led to a decrease of 0.03 in the risk of MIH (95% confidence interval = −0.07, 0.02, <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">P</jats:italic> = 0.24). In this present study, there was no clear evidence of an association between systemic inflammation in early childhood and the risk of MIH.","PeriodicalId":15596,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Dental Research","volume":"158 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2026-07-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148538916","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}