{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,22]],"date-time":"2026-10-22T17:45:03Z","timestamp":1792691103052,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":39,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,11,11]],"date-time":"2021-11-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1636588800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Children"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background and objective: Dental caries appears to be related to iron deficiency anemia and to low ferritin levels. In the present meta-analysis, we report salivary and serum iron and ferritin levels in children with dental caries, compared to healthy controls. Materials and methods: We searched in Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Scopus, and PubMed\/Medline databases to extract studies published until 25 July 2021. We calculated mean differences (MD) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of salivary and serum iron and ferritin levels in children with dental caries, always compared to healthy controls. In addition, we applied a trial sequential analysis (TSA). Results: A total of twelve articles covering thirteen studies were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled MD for salivary iron level was \u22125.76 \u00b5g\/dL (p = 0.57), and \u221227.70 \u00b5g\/dL (p &lt; 0.00001) for serum iron level: compared to healthy controls, children with dental caries did not show different salivary iron levels, while children with caries had significantly lower serum iron levels. The pooled MD of salivary ferritin level was 34.84 \u00b5g\/dL (p = 0.28), and the pooled MD of serum ferritin level was \u22128.95 \u00b5g\/L (p = 0.04): compared to healthy controls, children with dental caries did not have different salivary iron levels, but significantly lower serum ferritin levels. Conclusions: The findings of the present meta-analysis showed that salivary levels of iron and ferritin did not differ between children with and without caries, though compared to healthy controls, children with caries had significantly lower salivary and serum iron and ferritin levels. The results are of practical and clinical importance: Possibly, iron and ferritin supplementation might prevent or attenuate dental caries in children at risk. Further, children with caries might suffer from further iron- and ferritin-related health issues. Lastly, serum blood samples, but not saliva samples inform accurately about the current iron and ferritin concentrations in children with or without caries.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/children8111034","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,11,11]],"date-time":"2021-11-11T23:02:41Z","timestamp":1636671761000},"page":"1034","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":10,"title":["Evaluation of Serum and Salivary Iron and Ferritin Levels in Children with Dental Caries: A Meta-Analysis and Trial Sequential Analysis"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"8","author":[{"given":"Roohollah","family":"Sharifi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Endodontics, School of Dentistry, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah 6713954658, Iran"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mohammad Farid","family":"Tabarzadi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Students Research Committee, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah 6715847141, Iran"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Parsia","family":"Choubsaz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Orthodontics, School of Dentistry, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran 1983963113, Iran"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3586-3012","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Masoud","family":"Sadeghi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biology, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran 1477893855, Iran"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jyothi","family":"Tadakamadla","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Medicine and Dentistry, Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD 4222, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2175-2765","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Serge","family":"Brand","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Sleep Disorders Research Center, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah 6719851115, Iran"},{"name":"Center for Affective, Stress and Sleep Disorders, University of Basel, Psychiatric Clinics, 4001 Basel, Switzerland"},{"name":"Substance Abuse Prevention Research Center, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah 6715847141, Iran"},{"name":"Department of Sport, Exercise and Health, Division of Sport Science and Psychosocial Health, University of Basel, 4052 Basel, Switzerland"},{"name":"School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran 1416753955, Iran"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dena","family":"Sadeghi-Bahmani","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Sleep Disorders Research Center, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah 6719851115, Iran"},{"name":"Center for Affective, Stress and Sleep Disorders, University of Basel, Psychiatric Clinics, 4001 Basel, Switzerland"},{"name":"Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,11,11]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"S85","DOI":"10.1111\/jcpe.12687","article-title":"Prevention and control of dental caries and periodontal diseases at individual and population level: Consensus report of group 3 of joint EFP\/ORCA workshop on the boundaries between caries and periodontal diseases","volume":"44","author":"Jepsen","year":"2017","journal-title":"J. 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