Question · asked by 1 review
Comprehensive oral health intervention (oral health education plus additional support: motivational interviewing, toothbrush/toothpaste provision, community engagement, and/or fluoride varnish/sealant application) delivered by non-dental health workers vs control (no intervention/usual care/isotonic exercise): Caries experience at the surface level (dmfs/defs)
- Population
- Children (mean age newborn to ~5.2 years) and their parents/carers
- Intervention
- Comprehensive oral health intervention (oral health education plus additional support: motivational interviewing, toothbrush/toothpaste provision, community engagement, and/or fluoride varnish/sealant application) delivered by non-dental health workers
- Comparison
- control (no intervention/usual care/isotonic exercise)
- Outcome
- Caries experience at the surface level (dmfs/defs)
Comprehensive interventions produced a small, statistically significant reduction in surface-level caries (dmfs SMD -0.14, 95% CI -0.26 to -0.02; 10 studies; not GRADE-rated).
What each review found
Include earlier review versions| Finding | Effect | Studies | GRADE certainty |
|---|---|---|---|
Comprehensive oral health intervention (oral health education plus additional support: motivational interviewing, toothbrush/toothpaste provision, community engagement, and/or fluoride varnish/sealant application) delivered by non-dental health workers vs Control (usual care, no intervention, or comparison group) Caries experience at the surface level (dmfs/defs) · Children (mean age newborn to ~5.2 years) and their parents/carers · Primary care and community settings; interventions delivered by non-dental health workers (multiple countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, UK, USA, etc.), Comprehensive intervention (vs oral health education only) Comprehensive interventions produced a small, statistically significant reduction in surface-level caries (dmfs SMD -0.14, 95% CI -0.26 to -0.02; 10 studies; not GRADE-rated). The effectiveness of behaviour change interventions delivered by non-dental health workers in promoting… (2022) All outcomes | SMD -0.14 [-0.26, -0.02] | 10 studies | GRADE not reported |
Findings are shown side by side, never pooled across reviews.
The reviews
| Review | Searched up to | Included studies | AMSTAR 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| The effectiveness of behaviour change interventions delivered by non-dental health workers in promoting children's oral health: A… 2022 All outcomes | Inception to March 2021 (Medline/PubMed 1946-March 2021) | 59 | Critically Low / Low |
How reviews are matched to this question
Reviews word the same question differently. Four decision models (TypeSafe's Jev, Liquid AI's d1-ultra, SubQ Snap and Baseten's Elephant) judged each wording of the population, intervention, comparator and outcome against the others; two wordings count as the same when at least three of them agree and none clearly disagrees, and findings count as this question only when all four elements match. Timing, setting and subgroup never split a question: they are shown on each finding.