Oral health problems in pediatric patients were significantly linked to anxiety and depression, indicating a need to integrate the management of these conditions into early mental health screenings. The review article was published in the Journal of Affective Disorders.
However, the findings should be interpreted with caution due to the high heterogeneity and methodological variability across studies, the authors wrote.
“To safeguard the overall well-being of the young generation, interdisciplinary collaborations are recommended to promote both mental and dental health among this vulnerable population,” wrote lead author Ni Zhou of the University of Hong Kong (J Affect Disord, July 3, 2026, 122191).
Often, anxiety and depression exist alongside dental problems, which can affect a person’s overall well-being and quality of life. This association in adults is well documented in the literature. However, possible associations in children are not clear.
For this review, a search was conducted; 33 studies were included, with 27 that were eligible for meta-analysis. The studies included 31,834 patients across 15 countries. Random and fixed-effects models were used to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and standardized mean differences, according to the review.
Among pediatric patients with dental problems, the pooled estimation revealed a prevalence of anxiety was 57% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 41% to 73%), and it was 38% (95% CI: 20% to 56%) for depression, with notable heterogeneity. Researchers noted that these values were much greater than the prevalence of anxiety (20.5%) and depression (25.2%) reported in the general population of children, the authors wrote.
Furthermore, the pooled estimations appeared to support the hypothesis that anxiety and depression were significantly linked to dental problems with ORs of 2.67 (95% CI: 1.43 to 4.97, I2 = 89.2%) and 1.93 (95% CI: 1.22 to 3.04, I2 = 71.1%).
Finally, pediatric patients with anxiety were more likely to grind their teeth and have caries and temporomandibular disorders, they wrote.
Moreover, the review had several limitations. Researchers were unable to perform meta-regression and other analyses due to the limited data included in the included studies, the authors wrote.
“Multidisciplinary collaboration is recommended to promote both mental and dental health at an early age,” Zhou and colleagues wrote.
