Probiotics vs placebo or control: Dental caries in children
- Population
- Children and/or adolescents (<18 years) without background systemic disease
- Intervention
- Probiotics
- Comparison
- placebo or control
- Outcome
- Dental caries in children
Probiotics probably make little to no difference to the number of dental caries versus control (MD -0.24 carious pieces, 95%CI -0.72 to 0.23; low certainty).
What each review found
Current versions only| Finding | Effect | Studies | GRADE certainty |
|---|---|---|---|
Probiotics (any strain, dose, or presentation), minimum intake duration 0.2 months vs No treatment or placebo (control) Number of dental caries (carious pieces) · Children and/or adolescents (<18 years) without background systemic disease · follow-up: mean 26 months, Healthy children and/or adolescents (<18 years) without systemic disease; RCTs from multiple countries (India, Thailand, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Poland, Colombia, Saudi Arabia); mostly school/community and clinic settings, Overall (all presentations pooled) Probiotics probably make little to no difference to the number of dental caries versus control (MD -0.24 carious pieces, 95%CI -0.72 to 0.23; low certainty). Efficacy of Probiotic Consumption on Oral Outcomes in Children and/or Adolescents: A Meta-Analysis. (2024) All outcomes | MD -0.24 [-0.72, 0.23] | 6 studies · 1049 participants | Low |
Findings are shown side by side, never pooled across reviews.
The reviews
| Review | Searched up to | Included studies | AMSTAR 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Efficacy of Probiotic Consumption on Oral Outcomes in Children and/or Adolescents: A Meta-Analysis. 2024 All outcomes | March 15, 2023 | 19 | Critically Low / Critically Low |
Related questions
The same intervention and outcome, asked in another population or against another comparator.
- Probiotics vs placebo or control · Adolescents (12-18 years) without background systemic disease · 1 review
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.
- Effect of a Short-Term Intervention with Lactobacillus salivarius Probiotic on Early Childhood Caries-An Open Label Randomized Controlled… · 2022 · included by 1 of these review
- Reducing mutans streptococci and caries development by<i>Lactobacillus paracasei</i>SD1 in preschool children: a randomized… · 2018 · included by 1 of these review
- Effect of Long-Term Consumption of Lactobacillus paracasei SD1 on Reducing Mutans streptococci and Caries Risk: A Randomized… · 2015 · included by 1 of these review
- Early Intervention with Probiotic <b><i>Lactobacillus paracasei </i></b>F19 Has No Long-Term Effect on Caries… · 2013 · 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.