Behaviour change / oral health promotion interventions delivered by non-dental professionals and health workers (nurses, midwives, health visitors, community health workers) vs control (no intervention/usual care/isotonic exercise): Caries experience
- Population
- Children (mean age newborn to ~5.2 years) and their parents/carers
- Intervention
- Behaviour change / oral health promotion interventions delivered by non-dental professionals and health workers (nurses, midwives, health visitors, community health workers)
- Comparison
- control (no intervention/usual care/isotonic exercise)
- Outcome
- Caries experience
Behaviour change interventions delivered by non-dental health workers produced a small-to-moderate, statistically significant reduction in caries experience at the tooth level (dmft SMD -0.34, 95% CI -0.54 to -0.13; 6 studies); the review judged the overall evidence to be of low quality (not GRADE-rated).
What each review found
Current versions only| Finding | Effect | Studies | GRADE certainty |
|---|---|---|---|
Behaviour change / oral health promotion interventions delivered by non-dental professionals and health workers (nurses, midwives, health visitors, community health workers) vs Control (usual care, no intervention, or comparison group) Caries experience at the tooth level (dmft) · 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.) Behaviour change interventions delivered by non-dental health workers produced a small-to-moderate, statistically significant reduction in caries experience at the tooth level (dmft SMD -0.34, 95% CI -0.54 to -0.13; 6 studies); the review judged the overall evidence to be of low quality (not GRADE-rated). The effectiveness of behaviour change interventions delivered by non-dental health workers in promoting… (2022) All outcomes | SMD -0.34 [-0.54, -0.13] | 6 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 |
Studies behind the findings
The primary studies the full-text reviews tie to this outcome. Reviews with headline outcomes only do not list them here.
- Reducing carious lesions during the first 4 years of life · 2019 · included by 1 of these review
- Short-term impact of oral hygiene training package to Anganwadi workers on improving oral hygiene of preschool children in North Indian… · 2013 · included by 1 of these review
- Long‐term effectiveness of a nutritional program in reducing early childhood caries: a randomized trial · 2010 · included by 1 of these review
- Vichayanrat et al. 2012 · included by 1 of these review
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.