Early-Life Determinants of Oral Health: The First 1,000 Days

The first 1,000 days of life, spanning from conception to a child’s second birthday, represent a critical window for health and development. Increasing evidence suggests that oral health trajectories are also shaped during this period through the interaction of prenatal, perinatal, infant, family, environmental, and social factors. This early-life window has growing relevance for understanding and preventing early childhood caries, developmental enamel defects, oral microbial establishment, and longer-term oral health outcomes.

This Research Topic aims to bring together research that advances understanding of how early-life exposures and experiences influence oral health from pregnancy through infancy and early childhood. We are particularly interested in work that moves beyond single-risk-factor models and examines how biological, behavioural, clinical, and social determinants interact across the life course. This may include the roles of maternal and paternal health, caregiver knowledge and behaviours, nutrition and feeding practices, developmental conditions, microbial transmission, and inequalities in access to prevention and care.
We welcome researches on topics including, but not limited to:
• maternal, paternal, and caregiver influences on child oral health
• oral health during preconception, pregnancy, and the perinatal period
infant feeding practices, nutrition, and early sugar exposure
• early microbial colonisation and mother-infant transmission pathways
• developmental enamel defects, including hypomineralized second primary molars and related early-life risk factors
• early childhood caries risk, prevention, and early intervention
• oral health literacy, behaviour change, and family-centred prevention
• integrated care models linking dentistry with pediatrics, obstetrics, nutrition, and primary care
• social, cultural, and environmental determinants of early oral health
• policy, health systems, and community-based strategies that support healthier early-life oral health trajectories

By focusing on the first 1,000 days, this collection aims to support a more integrated and preventive view of oral health development and to identify opportunities for earlier intervention across both clinical and public health settings.

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
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: first 1000 days oral health, early childhood caries, infant oral health, maternal and child oral health, developmental enamel defects, oral microbiome colonization, oral health literacy, social determinants of oral health

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.