ArticleBMC oral health2025
Association between trace elements and dental caries in the USA: analysis of data from serial cross-sectional surveys, 2010-2016.
Article in BMC oral health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- AdcBC-dependent zinc uptake influences physiological responses inJournal of oral microbiology · 2026Article
- Systematic Review of Lead Exposure and Its Effects on Caries and Aesthetics in Children and Adolescents.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
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Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundDental caries is a localized deterioration of hard tissues caused by acidic by-products of bacterial fermentation of dietary carbohydrates. However, except for fluoride, there were few studies focusing on the direct association between other trace elements. This study aimed to explore how other trace elements affect dental caries.
methodsData from 10,426 individuals were collected from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) during the 2010-2016 cycle. The sample was restricted to individuals aged 20 years or older who had complete clinical oral examination data, and who had also completed blood (N = 10,086), serum (N = 5,152), or urine tests (N = 5,297). These three groups were weighted to represent multi-year data. The effects of 20 trace elements on dental caries experience were investigated using quartiles of continuous variables and weighted multivariate logistic regression models.
resultsThe analysis revealed significant differences in trace elements (lead, cadmium, mercury, molybdenum, tin, and tungsten) between individuals with no dental caries experience and those with dental caries experience (P < 0.05). Adjusted results from the weighted multivariate logistic regression model showed that the odds ratios (OR) for following trace elements were significantly positively associated with dental caries experience: lead (OR = 1.0105; 95% CI 1.0030-1.0181; P = 0.0077), cobalt (OR = 1.0048; 95% CI 1.001-1.0087; P = 0.0154), cesium (OR = 1.0028; 95% CI 1.0011-1.0046; P = 0.0027), and arsenic (OR = 1.0002; 95% CI 1-1.0004; P = 0.0244), while iron (OR = 0.9974; 95% CI 0.9954-0.9994; P = 0.0116) showed the negative association.
conclusionThe results of this cross-sectional study conducted on the U.S. population identified a statistically significant positive association between dental caries and trace elements, including lead, cobalt, cesium, and arsenic, while a negative association was observed with iron.
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