Question · asked by 1 review
Primary school-based interventions (one or more of: school health policy, oral health education, healthy school environment, access to oral health services, community involvement) vs usual practice: Annual increment in DMFS (D3)
- Population
- Primary school children (aged 3-16 years) attending primary school in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs)
- Intervention
- Primary school-based interventions (one or more of: school health policy, oral health education, healthy school environment, access to oral health services, community involvement)
- Comparison
- usual practice
- Outcome
- Annual increment in DMFS (D3)
Oral-health-education interventions significantly reduced net increment in DMFS (SMD -1.05); no significant subgroup difference vs other interventions (P=0.74).
What each review found
Current versions onlyNo studies found 0 · 0%GRADE not reported 4 · 80%Very low 1 · 20%Low 0 · 0%Moderate 0 · 0%High 0 · 0%
| Finding | Effect | Studies | GRADE certainty |
|---|---|---|---|
Primary school-based interventions (one or more of: school health policy, oral health education, healthy school environment, access to oral health services, community involvement) vs No intervention or usual practice/activities Dental caries measured by net increment in DMFS scores · Primary school children (aged 3-16 years) attending primary school in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) · Post-intervention; follow-up varied across studies (interventions ranged from <2 years to >=2 years and longer), Primary schools in low- and middle-income countries (Southeast Asia, Africa, the Americas, Europe, eastern Mediterranean), Intervention type: oral health education Oral-health-education interventions significantly reduced net increment in DMFS (SMD -1.05); no significant subgroup difference vs other interventions (P=0.74). Effectiveness of primary school-based interventions in improving oral health of children in low- and… (2022) All outcomes | SMD -1.05 [-2.03, -0.08] | 3 studies | GRADE not reported |
Primary school-based interventions (one or more of: school health policy, oral health education, healthy school environment, access to oral health services, community involvement) vs No intervention or usual practice/activities Dental caries measured by net increment in DMFS scores · Primary school children (aged 3-16 years) attending primary school in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) · Post-intervention; follow-up varied across studies (interventions ranged from <2 years to >=2 years and longer), Primary schools in low- and middle-income countries (Southeast Asia, Africa, the Americas, Europe, eastern Mediterranean), WHO health-promoting-schools framework Interventions based on the WHO health-promoting-schools framework showed no significant effect on net increment in DMFS (SMD -0.57). Effectiveness of primary school-based interventions in improving oral health of children in low- and… (2022) All outcomes | SMD -0.57 [-1.56, 0.42] | 2 studies | GRADE not reported |
Primary school-based interventions (one or more of: school health policy, oral health education, healthy school environment, access to oral health services, community involvement) vs No intervention or usual practice/activities Dental caries measured by net increment in DMFS scores · Primary school children (aged 3-16 years) attending primary school in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) · Post-intervention; follow-up varied across studies (interventions ranged from <2 years to >=2 years and longer), Primary schools in low- and middle-income countries (Southeast Asia, Africa, the Americas, Europe, eastern Mediterranean), Non-WHO-framework interventions Non-WHO-framework interventions significantly reduced net increment in DMFS (SMD -1.88); no significant subgroup difference vs WHO-framework (P=0.11). Effectiveness of primary school-based interventions in improving oral health of children in low- and… (2022) All outcomes | SMD -1.88 [-3.15, -0.60] | Not reported | GRADE not reported |
Primary school-based interventions (one or more of: school health policy, oral health education, healthy school environment, access to oral health services, community involvement) vs No intervention or usual practice/activities Dental caries measured by net increment in DMFS scores · Primary school children (aged 3-16 years) attending primary school in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) · Post-intervention; follow-up varied across studies (interventions ranged from <2 years to >=2 years and longer), Primary schools in low- and middle-income countries (Southeast Asia, Africa, the Americas, Europe, eastern Mediterranean), Intervention type: other (daily tooth brushing) Other interventions (daily tooth brushing) significantly reduced net increment in DMFS (SMD -1.23). Effectiveness of primary school-based interventions in improving oral health of children in low- and… (2022) All outcomes | SMD -1.23 [-1.46, -1.00] | 1 study | GRADE not reported |
Primary school-based interventions (one or more of: school health policy, oral health education, healthy school environment, access to oral health services, community involvement) vs No intervention or usual practice/activities Dental caries measured by net increment in DMFS scores · Primary school children (aged 3-16 years) attending primary school in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) · Post-intervention; follow-up varied across studies (interventions ranged from <2 years to >=2 years and longer), Primary schools in low- and middle-income countries (Southeast Asia, Africa, the Americas, Europe, eastern Mediterranean) School-based interventions may reduce the net increment in DMFS scores (SMD -1.09, favouring intervention), but the certainty of evidence is very low. Effectiveness of primary school-based interventions in improving oral health of children in low- and… (2022) All outcomes | SMD -1.09 [-1.91, -0.27] | 4 studies · 3755 participants | Very low |
Findings are shown side by side, never pooled across reviews.
The reviews
| Review | Searched up to | Included studies | AMSTAR 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Effectiveness of primary school-based interventions in improving oral health of children in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic… 2022 All outcomes | 2020-04-08 to 2020-06-07 (updated via automatic alerts; publication window 1995 to December 2021) | 54 | 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.