Erliang Zeng
University of Iowa, IA·Public Health & Epidemiology
Early childhood caries (ECC), tooth decay in very young children, is a common chronic disease and a costly public health problem, yet it can be prevented. Its causes fall into three groups.
- Fields
Public Health & Epidemiology
Microbiology & Immunology
Computer Science
- Topics
early childhood caries
tooth decay
dental caries
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Apr 2031
What they work on
- Test whether a Self-Determination Theory-based intervention keeps or restores a healthy oral microbial community in children from birth to age three, by comparing oral metagenomes between intervention and control groups from a completed clinical trial.
- Determine whether children who received the intervention carry more core healthy oral microbiome species and fewer genes linked to enamel demineralization and decay-causing bacteria.
- Model how oral microbiota connect to maternal knowledge, children's diets and oral health habits, using structural equation modeling, mixed-effects models and machine learning such as deep kernel Gaussian processes, to find the most influential ECC risk factors.
More about the research
Microbial causes involve the bacteria living in the mouth. Dietary causes involve what children eat and drink. Behavioral causes involve oral health habits and caregiver knowledge. An intervention based on Self-Determination Theory (SDT), a psychology framework that builds motivation by supporting people's sense of choice, competence and connection, has shown promise in preventing ECC among high-risk families. How it changes the mouth's microbes, and how those changes connect to diet and behavior, is not yet known.
Why it matters
Tooth decay in early childhood can harm children's health, learning and quality of life. By identifying which microbial, dietary and behavioral factors matter most when a motivation-based prevention program succeeds, this work could help refine prevention strategies for young children at high risk. It could also improve child oral health and lower health care costs.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Ryan Ruff
University of Pennsylvania, PA·Public Health & Epidemiology
Quantify the long-term caries-arresting effect of school-based silver diamine fluoride using CariedAway trial data, including the added benefit of repeat application and whether treating posterior teeth lowers new decay in anterior teeth.
Zezhang Wen
Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center-New Orleans, LA·Microbiology & Immunology
Identify the transcriptional and post-transcriptional factors that control expression of brpA, a gene needed for biofilm formation in Streptococcus mutans, using molecular, biochemical and bioinformatics approaches.
Jose Lemos
University of Florida, FL·Microbiology & Immunology
Uncover the regulatory mechanisms that let Streptococcus mutans tolerate high zinc, focusing on ZccE, a zinc-exporting pump unique to this species, and its regulator ZccR, using genetic and mutational approaches.
The school
University of Iowa: 32 labs on PI Pages, $703M a year on research, 418 research doctorates a year.
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