Early Childhood Caries: Novel Risk Indicators, Screening Models, and Preventive Pathways

Early childhood caries (ECC) stands as a significant challenge in pediatric health, affecting millions of children globally and burdening families and healthcare systems alike. Despite longstanding efforts centered on fluoride use, dietary modification, and behavioral change, ECC continues to persist, especially among children facing socioeconomic disadvantages and systemic barriers to care. Recent research reinforces that ECC is not only a biologically driven dental condition but also a powerful indicator of health inequities, as demonstrated by its disproportionate impact on marginalized populations. With new scientific insights, there is an increased urgency to examine how risk for ECC is conceptualized and measured, and whether emerging tools and pathways can be translated into equitable and effective public health strategies.

Rapid developments in ECC research are reshaping the field: risk assessment is shifting from static tools to dynamic, data-informed models, while screening is expanding beyond the dental clinic into remote and non-dental settings through innovations such as teledentistry and digital diagnostics. Prevention is also being understood more broadly, with integrated strategies spanning clinical, behavioral, and policy domains. Contemporary studies explore novel biomarkers, salivary diagnostics, and machine learning-based predictive models—offering promising advances but also raising questions about their real-world accuracy, feasibility, and bias, particularly in diverse or resource-constrained environments. Despite exciting progress, notable gaps remain between technological capabilities and their routine implementation in pediatric care, as well as persistent challenges in linking individual risk detection to population-level interventions.

This Research Topic aims to consolidate multidisciplinary advances in the detection, prediction, and prevention of ECC, focusing on indicators and models that are both clinically robust and equitable. The goal is to critically evaluate emerging risk indicators—from biological to contextual—advance pragmatic and accurate screening or prediction models, and optimize preventive and minimally invasive management strategies that are tailored for real-world, high-need settings. By bridging the gap between research innovation and day-to-day practice, and by addressing upstream determinants as well as clinical interventions, this initiative seeks to inform scalable models of care that reduce ECC burden and promote health equity.

This Research Topic is focused on innovative, evidence-based approaches for identifying, predicting, and preventing ECC, with particular attention to real-world scalability and equity. We welcome articles that engage with, but are not limited to, the following themes:

• Development and validation of novel biological, behavioral, and contextual risk indicators for ECC and severe ECC

• Evaluation and comparison of new and traditional screening approaches, including teledentistry and non-dental care settings

• Design, validation, and implementation of predictive models utilizing AI, machine learning, and advanced statistical techniques

• Real-world testing and optimization of risk-based, minimally invasive preventive pathways

• Impact of community, policy, and structural interventions (e.g., sugar reduction, fluoridation access) on ECC prevention and management

• Implementation science inquiries into scaling strategies, cost-effectiveness, workforce models, and equity in delivery

• Studies on acceptability, feasibility, and optimization of ECC interventions in diverse demographic and high-need populations

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: early childhood caries, caries risk indicators, dental screening models, pediatric oral health, caries prevention, teledentistry, health equity, machine learning dentistry

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.