Possible Relationship Between the Oral and Gut Microbiome, Caries Development, and Obesity in Children During the COVID-19 Pandemic
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Updated: Sep 7, 2025
Oral Biofilm Sampling for Microbiome Analysis in Healthy Children
Published on: December 31, 2017
Ranam Moreira Reis1, Hugo Lemes Carlo1, Rogério Lacerda Dos Santos1
1Department of Dentistry, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Governador Valadares, Brazil.
Insights
The COVID-19 pandemic may increase children's risk of obesity and early childhood caries (ECC) due to lifestyle changes. This review explores the link between oral/gut microbiomes, dental caries, and obesity in children during this era.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Health
- Microbiology
- Public Health
Background:
- COVID-19 pandemic caused global health and socioeconomic disruptions, significantly impacting children's lifestyles.
- Children experienced social isolation, altered eating habits, and reduced physical activity, increasing risks for weight gain, obesity, and poor oral hygiene.
- Early Childhood Caries (ECC) is a prevalent issue in children under 6, defined by lesions in primary teeth, potentially exacerbated by pandemic-related lifestyle changes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review and analyze the potential relationship between the oral and gut microbiome, dental caries, and obesity in children during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- To address the gap in understanding how pandemic-induced lifestyle changes affect the oral microbiome and its systemic implications.
- To investigate the interplay between oral health, gut health, and weight status in pediatric populations during the COVID-19 era.
Main Methods:
- Literature review synthesizing recent studies on children's oral health, eating habits, weight gain, and microbiome alterations during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Analysis of research exploring the connection between lifestyle changes, oral microbiome shifts, and the development of dental caries and obesity.
- Examination of studies investigating the bidirectional relationship between oral and gut microbiomes and their influence on systemic health.
Main Results:
- Pandemic-related lifestyle changes, including dietary shifts and reduced physical activity, are associated with increased risks of weight gain and obesity in children.
- Alterations in the oral microbiome due to lifestyle changes may contribute to an increased risk of early childhood caries (ECC).
- Emerging evidence suggests a complex interplay between the oral microbiome, gut microbiome, and systemic conditions like obesity, particularly relevant in the pandemic context.
Conclusions:
- The COVID-19 pandemic has created a confluence of factors potentially increasing the risk of obesity and early childhood caries (ECC) in children.
- Understanding the intricate relationship between the oral and gut microbiomes, diet, physical activity, and these health outcomes is crucial for developing targeted interventions.
- Further research is needed to elucidate the specific mechanisms linking pandemic-induced lifestyle changes to pediatric obesity and dental caries via microbiome alterations.
Abstract:
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought health damage and socioeconomic disruptions, together with lifestyle disorders around the world. Children are one of the most commonly affected, mainly due to social isolation and changes in eating habits and physical activities. This way, the risk of weight gain and obesity is possibly enhanced, as well as poor oral hygiene conditions and early childhood caries (ECC) development during the lockdown. In children under 6 years of age, ECC is defined as carious lesions in one or more primary teeth, with or without cavitation. Importantly, alterations in the oral microbiome caused by changes in children lifestyles have much more than a local impact on oral tissues, interplaying with the gut microbiome and influencing systemic environments. Recent studies have been exploring the oral health conditions, eating habits, and weight gain in the childhood population during the COVID-19 pandemic; however, there is a lack of information concerning the association among oral and gut microbiome, dental caries, and obesity in the COVID-19 era. In this context, this review aimed at analyzing a possible relationship between the oral and gut microbiome, caries, and obesity in children during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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