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Evidence found and GRADE certainty

3,323 questions · 5,762 findings · 263 reviews · Dental caries

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No studies found 321 · 5.6%GRADE not reported 4,450 · 77.2%Very low 455 · 7.9%Low 297 · 5.2%Moderate 200 · 3.5%High 39 · 0.7%

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Pulpotomy with Biodentine vs Pulpotomy with calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2)

Overall success (composite of clinical and radiographic success) · Human permanent teeth with irreversible pulpitis due to carious pulp exposure

Biodentine had a significantly higher pulpotomy success rate than calcium hydroxide (indirect comparison; numeric estimate not available); ungraded.

1 finding from 1 review

Fluoride-releasing resin-based sealant vs No sealant (control/no treatment)

Mean caries increment (mean number of new cavitated occlusal lesions) · Children with caries-free or non-cavitated carious lesion primary molars, aged 3-7 years (paediatric department, dental hospital, France)
1 finding from 1 review
  • Sealants for preventing dental caries in primary teeth 2022 · Cochrane All outcomes
    24 months
    Mean number of new cavitated occlusal lesions 0.23 (SD 0.06) in sealed molars vs 0.29 (SD 0.06) in control molars (Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-rank test P = 0.42)
    1 study · 85 participants
    GRADE not reported

Sociodemographic / socioeconomic factors (single-parent family, low parental education, family income, socioeconomic status) vs Absence of the factor / reference socioeconomic category

Caries increment in permanent teeth · School children and adolescents (6-18 years) followed from primary dentition (baseline examination before 72 months of age)

Evidence on the association between sociodemographic/socioeconomic factors and permanent-teeth caries is weak and inconsistent (3 studies; could not be pooled; not GRADE-rated).

1 finding from 1 review

High-viscosity glass-ionomer cement (HVGIC) restoration (conventional restorative approach) vs Compomer, composite resin, or another HVGIC

Treatment failure (annual failure rate) · Children with previously unrestored, vital carious lesions in primary teeth (no pulp therapy); aged 1.5-11 years

High-viscosity GIC had a wide annual failure rate (2.9-25.6%) and was outperformed by compomer/composite in some trials (3 RCTs); low quality of evidence (ungraded).

1 finding from 1 review

Cleft lip and/or palate (CL/P) vs No cleft lip and/or palate (non-CL/P)

Care index (CI = f/[d+m+f]) in the primary dentition · Children in the primary dentition with non-syndromic cleft lip and/or palate (CL/P) and comparable children without CL/P

The care index tended to be higher in children without CL/P (2 of 3 studies), suggesting more extraction-based caries management in children with CL/P; not pooled (narrative; ungraded).

1 finding from 1 review
  • Caries in children with and without orofacial clefting: A systematic review and meta-analysis. 2022 All outcomes
    Children with CL/P and comparable non-CL/P children across 12 countries (India, Brazil, China, Sweden, UK, USA, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands, Jordan, Thailand); studies published 1989-2021
    Two out of three studies for which the CI could be calculated (Nagappan 2019; Veiga 2016) showed a higher CI for non-CL/P children demonstrating a higher proportion of extraction-based treatment in CL/P children…
    3 studies
    GRADE not reported

Fluorescence-based devices vs Reference standard (histology, excavation, or enhanced visual examination)

Sensitivity for detection of enamel caries · Asymptomatic children or adults suspected of enamel caries (clinical studies); extracted teeth (in vitro studies)

Fluorescence-based devices had a summary sensitivity of 0.76 (95% CrI 0.68, 0.82) for detecting enamel caries; low certainty.

2 findings from 1 review

Antiretroviral therapy (any, including cART) vs No antiretroviral medication (treatment-naive)

Parotid hypertrophy prevalence · Children and adolescents (<18 years) living with HIV (CLWH)

Parotid hypertrophy was significantly more prevalent in treatment-naive CLWH than in those on ART (very low certainty).

1 finding from 1 review

Baby-led weaning (BLW) vs Traditional complementary feeding (TCF)

Overweight/obesity risk · Healthy, term-born, normal-birth-weight infants aged 4-24 months (breastfed and/or formula-fed) in Western industrialized countries

Among observational studies, baby-led weaning was associated with lower odds of overweight/obesity than other feeding models (OR 0.37, 95% CI 0.25 to 0.55), but certainty is very low.

1 finding from 1 review

Good brushing habits (>=2 daily tooth brushing) vs Children without dental caries

Dental caries · Children (deciduous and/or permanent dentition) in low- and middle-income countries

Good brushing habits (>=2 daily) were associated with 35% lower odds of dental caries (OR 0.65, 95% CI 0.46 to 0.92; 7 studies; not GRADE-rated).

1 finding from 1 review

Single-surface ART restoration using high-viscosity glass ionomer vs Multi-surface ART with high-viscosity GIC

Restoration failure · Children (2-9 years) with caries in posterior primary teeth

Single-surface ART restorations had a low reported mean annual failure rate (about 5%; ungraded).

1 finding from 1 review

Placebo vs Silver diamine fluoride

Oral health-related quality of life · Children with dental caries

The direct estimate found no statistically significant difference in oral health-related quality of life between placebo and silver diamine fluoride.

2 findings from 1 review

Antiretroviral therapy (any, including cART) vs No antiretroviral medication (treatment-naive)

Dental development and maturation · Children and adolescents (<18 years) living with HIV (CLWH)

A single small study suggested delayed dental development in CLWH on ART, but the evidence was insufficient to draw conclusions (very low certainty).

1 finding from 1 review

Maternal education attainment vs Children without dental caries

Dental caries (association with secondary/higher maternal education) · Children (deciduous and/or permanent dentition) in low- and middle-income countries

Secondary/higher maternal education showed no significant association with dental caries (OR 0.96, 95% CI 0.64 to 1.44; 7 studies; not GRADE-rated).

1 finding from 1 review

Not applicable (single-group prevalence) vs Not applicable

Caries experience (mean DMFT) · Children aged 12 years (plus or minus one year) in Africa

The pooled mean DMFT score was 1.0900 (95% CI 0.9143 to 1.2657); GRADE was not reported.

2 findings from 1 review