Association between psychological factors and molar-incisor hypomineralization: A cross-sectional study

Molar-incisor hypomineralization (MIH) is a developmental enamel defect characterized by opacities from white to brownish color. A suspected multifactorial etiology has been suggested, whereas psychological factors during pregnancy have only been limitedly analyzed.

We assessed the association between stress, depression, and anxiety in pregnancy and the presence of MIH in children at a later age.

Using a cross-sectional Web-based questionnaire, we included 384 mothers who had children aged 6 and 12 years from Pasto, Colombia. Data were collected between October 2021 and March 2022. Sociodemographic variables; maternal and child factors related to prenatal, natal, or postnatal problems; and psychological factors such as stress and symptoms of anxiety and depression in pregnancy were inquired. Utilizing photographs depicting MIH lesions, mothers assessed their child's MIH status. A directed acyclic graph (DAG) analysis was performed to create causal assumptions, and logistic regression models were estimated to evaluate these assumptions. p-value was set at p < .05.

The prevalence of MIH was 33.3%; 12.8% of the participants exhibited hypomineralization in both molars and incisors. DAG analysis and logistic regression models determined that MIH (present or not) was associated with symptoms of maternal depression (OR_adj = 3.26, 95% CI: 1.92-5.52, p < .001), and MIH (both molars and incisors) was associated with symptoms of maternal anxiety (OR_adj = 3.49, 95% CI: 1.80-6.76, p < .001).

Psychological factors, among others, were significantly associated with the presence of MIH.