The association of maternal folic acid supplementation and prenatal folate and vitamin B12 concentrations with child dental development

Objective: Low folic acid, folate and vitamin B12 might affect tooth formation and mineralization. The conversion of folic acid into folate is catalysed by the methylenetetrahydrofolate (MTHFR) enzyme which is encoded by the MTHFR gene. Among 3728 mothers and their 10-year-old children from the Generation R Study, we investigated associations of maternal folic acid supplementation and prenatal folate and vitamin B12 concentrations with child dental development. Secondly, we checked the modifying effect of MTHFR-C677T polymorphism. Methods: Information on folic acid supplementation was obtained by questionnaires. Concentrations of folate and vitamin B12 were measured from venous samples taken in early pregnancy. Developmental stages of teeth were defined by the Demirjian method at the age-10 assessment. In addition, dental age of the children was calculated using the Dutch standard. GLM and multivariate linear regression models were built to study the associations. Results: Folic acid supplementation started when pregnancy was known (β = −0.09; 95% CI: −0.17, −0.01) and folic acid supplementation started prior to known pregnancy (β = −0.12; 95% CI: −0.20, −0.04) were both associated with decelerated dental development by 1-2 months lower dental age of 10-year-old children. Folate (β = −0.02, 95% CI: −0.05, 0.02) and vitamin B12 (β = 0.03, 95% CI: −0.00, 0.06) were not associated with dental age. MTHFR-C677T did not modify the associations. Conclusions: Maternal folic acid supplementation delays dental development of children by 1-2 months dental age, whereas maternal folate and vitamin B12 concentrations in early pregnancy do not affect the timing of child dental development.

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