Effects of prolonged breast- and bottle-feeding on occlusal characteristics in the primary dentition

The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of prolonged breast- and bottle-feeding on the growing primary dentition. This longitudinal study was conducted through a survey questionnaire and clinical examination of 592 children from 18 months to 36 months of age. Selected occlusal characteristics were compared among groups of children with different durations of breast- or bottle-feeding. The prevalence of breast-feeding at 18 months, 24 months and 36 months of age was 9.3%, 3.2% and 0.2% respectively. Prevalence of bottle-feeding was 14.4%, 2.9% and 0.7% respectively. Deepbite showed tendencies towards increasing prevalence with increased bottle-feeding duration. One third of the children who continued bottle-feeding at 24 months of age exhibited deepbite. Anterior crossbite were significantly more prevalent among those with continued breast-feeding at 18 months but ceased by 24 months (28.0%) than for that in the habit-free group (11.7%). However, anterior crossbite showed tendencies towards decreasing prevalence with increased breast-feeding duration. The prevalence of anterior crossbite was 6.7% in the children who continued breast-feeding at 24 months of age. However, the study suggests that spontaneous change in the occlusion following feeding discontinuation, although longer-term longitudinal studies are needed to demonstrate such changes directly.