Abstract
Background: The purpose of this systematic review was to analyze the available literature about the influence of breastfeeding in primary and mixed dentition on different types of malocclusions. Methods: Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Protocols (PRISMA-P) guidelines were used to perform the present review. The following electronic databases were searched: Pubmed, Evidence-Based Medicine Reviews (EBMR), Embase, Cochrane Library, Medline, Web of Science and Ovid. Results: A primary research found a total of 279 articles. Two more papers were also considered from the gray literature. Two hundred sixty-three articles were excluded as they were deemed irrelevant on the basis of: duplicates, title, abstract, methods and/or irrelevant contents. Eighteen papers were selected and included in the qualitative analysis. Conclusions: breastfeeding is a positive factor that seems to reduce the incidence of posterior crossbite, skeletal class II and distoclusion in primary and mixed dentition. A sort of positive relationship between months of breastfeeding and risk reduction seems to exist. More longitudinal research is needed to avoid bias in the results, with data collected prospectively on the months of exclusive breastfeeding, by means of specific questionnaires and successive clinical evaluation of the occlusal condition at the primary dentition, mixed dentition and permanent dentition stages.
Highlights
The stomatognathic system is composed of static and dynamic structures and its harmonious functioning is based on the balanced relationship between them
Exclusive breastfeeding between 0 and 6 months is recommended by the World health Organization (WHO) as a public health policy because it reduces the risk of aerodigestive infections [6,7,8]
It was obtained that the highest percentage of children with normal occlusion were in group A, who received natural breastfeeding
Summary
The stomatognathic system is composed of static and dynamic structures and its harmonious functioning is based on the balanced relationship between them. The genesis of a malocclusion is usually linked to an impairment of some kind to eugnathic growth that involves to various extents the mandible, the maxilla [5], and the functional matrix (tongue and facial muscles). Breastfeeding is one of the cornerstones of a correct maxillofacial growth because it promotes proper lip seal, mandibular function and tongue correct position against the palate [9]. Breastfeeding forces the child to actively squeeze milk out of the mother’s breast through a synergic action of both tongue and facial muscles, whereas bottle-feeding requires less effort to drain the milk, under stimulating the functional matrix [10,11,12,13]. The purpose of this systematic review was to analyze the available literature about the influence of breastfeeding in primary and mixed dentition on different types of malocclusions
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