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Each row is one question a systematic review asked: who, what, compared with what, and which outcome, with the effect it found and how certain that is. Words match anywhere in the field.
16 questions in 7 reviews · intervention: Oral hygiene/education · outcome domain: Caries (unspecified)
current versionsNo studies 1 · 6.3%Ungraded 14 · 87.5%Very low 1 · 6.3%Low 0 · 0%Moderate 0 · 0%High 0 · 0%
Ungraded means an effect was reported without a GRADE rating; it is not a gap. No studies means the review found nothing to answer the question. The six categories are a display order, not a score.
Intervention categories, outcome domains and clusters are a proposed key pending human validation. Clear all filters
| Question | Effect | Evidence | Status / GRADE |
|---|---|---|---|
Daily tooth brushing vs Reference (no/less brushing) Early childhood caries (ECC) · Children aged 0-5 years in North Africa · Twice daily Prevalence and risk factors for early childhood caries in North Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis. (2025) | OR 0.033 [0.004, 0.276] | 1 study | Ungraded |
Brushing at recommended time vs Reference brushing time Early childhood caries (ECC) · Children aged 0-5 years in North Africa Prevalence and risk factors for early childhood caries in North Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis. (2025) | OR 0.028 [0.004, 0.223] | 1 study | Ungraded |
Unsupervised tooth brushing vs Supervised brushing Early childhood caries (ECC) · Children aged 0-5 years in North Africa Prevalence and risk factors for early childhood caries in North Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis. (2025) | OR 1.385 [0.809, 1.369] | 1 study | Ungraded |
Tooth brushing method (per source) vs Reference brushing method Early childhood caries (ECC) · Children aged 0-5 years in North Africa Prevalence and risk factors for early childhood caries in North Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis. (2025) | OR 1.435 [1.207, 2.915] | 1 study | Ungraded |
Daily tooth brushing vs Reference (no/less brushing) Early childhood caries (ECC) · Children aged 0-5 years in North Africa · Once daily Prevalence and risk factors for early childhood caries in North Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis. (2025) | OR 0.033 [0.004, 0.263] | 1 study | Ungraded |
Good brushing habits (>=2 daily tooth brushing) vs Children without dental caries Dental caries (association with good/>=2 daily brushing) · Children (deciduous and/or permanent dentition) in low- and middle-income countries Individual, Family, and Socioeconomic Contributors to Dental Caries in Children from Low- and Middle-Income… (2022) | OR 0.65 [0.46, 0.92] | 7 studies · 5446 participants | Ungraded |
Caregiver help with child tooth brushing vs Children without dental caries Dental caries (association with caregiver help with tooth brushing) · Children (deciduous and/or permanent dentition) in low- and middle-income countries Individual, Family, and Socioeconomic Contributors to Dental Caries in Children from Low- and Middle-Income… (2022) | OR 0.35 [0.13, 0.93] | 3 studies · 2016 participants | Ungraded |
Poor / no tooth brushing habit vs Good tooth brushing habit Dental caries (presence) · Individuals in East Africa assessed for dental caries Prevalence of Dental Caries and Associated Factors in East Africa, 2000-2020: Systematic Review and… (2021) | OR 1.967 [1.205, 3.211] | 10 studies · 4927 participants | Ungraded |
Less frequent tooth brushing (< twice daily) vs More frequent tooth brushing (>= twice daily) Dental caries · Healthy children and adolescents in the United Arab Emirates Oral Health of Children and Adolescents in the United Arab Emirates: A Systematic Review of the Past Decade. (2021) | Higher tooth-brushing frequency was protective against caries in Kowash et al. and Hashim et al. (brushing >=twice vs less than daily aRR 0.8, 95% CI 0.64-0.93). A contradictory (non-protective) finding was reported by… | NR | Ungraded |
Oral hygiene interventions (mechanical plaque removal): knowledge-based, behavioural, or skills training for people with ID or their carers vs Usual care, no care, or a similar alternative intervention Dental caries levels of people with ID · People with intellectual disabilities (ID), living at home, in day care, in hospital or in a residential care setting;… Oral hygiene interventions for people with intellectual disabilities (2019) · Cochrane | No studies measured dental caries levels. One RCT (Shaw 1991, Comparison 5) assessed DMFT at baseline only and did not report caries at any later time point. | 0 studies | No studies |
Any form of one-to-one oral hygiene advice (OHA) vs No OHA Dental caries · Children or adults (fit and healthy, or with a well-defined medical condition) · 4 to 12 months One‐to‐one oral hygiene advice provided in a dental setting for oral health (2018) · Cochrane | SoF: 1 study in adults reported only 'small and statistically insignificant changes' but no usable data; the other study on infants provided evidence of a benefit for OHA at 8 and 12 months but not at 4 months.… | 2 studies · 244 participants | Very low |
Community and caregiver oral health education plus media campaign vs Pre-intervention BBTD rate Baby bottle tooth decay prevalence · Alaska Native and American Indian Head Start children · 3 years, High-intensity training Reducing Alaska Native paediatric oral health disparities: a systematic review of oral health interventions… (2013) | Percent reduction in BBTD prevalence 33 | 1 study | Ungraded |
Community and caregiver oral health education plus media campaign vs Pre-intervention BBTD rate Baby bottle tooth decay prevalence · Alaska Native and American Indian Head Start children · 3 years, Medium-intensity training Reducing Alaska Native paediatric oral health disparities: a systematic review of oral health interventions… (2013) | Percent reduction in BBTD prevalence 18 | 1 study | Ungraded |
Community and caregiver oral health education (training community volunteers, health workers and site coordinators; caregiver counselling; oral health media campaign) vs Pre-intervention baseline (and sites that discontinued the prevention program) Reduction in prevalence of baby bottle tooth decay (BBTD) · Alaska Native and American Indian Head Start (preschool) children · 3 to 8 years Reducing Alaska Native paediatric oral health disparities: a systematic review of oral health interventions… (2013) | Percent reduction in BBTD prevalence 25 | 1 study | Ungraded |
Community and caregiver oral health education plus media campaign vs Pre-intervention BBTD rate Baby bottle tooth decay prevalence · Alaska Native Head Start children · 3 years, Alaska Native site Reducing Alaska Native paediatric oral health disparities: a systematic review of oral health interventions… (2013) | Percent increase in BBTD prevalence 20 | 1 study | Ungraded |
Community and caregiver oral health education plus media campaign vs Pre-intervention BBTD rate Baby bottle tooth decay prevalence · Alaska Native and American Indian Head Start children · 3 years, Low-intensity training Reducing Alaska Native paediatric oral health disparities: a systematic review of oral health interventions… (2013) | Percent reduction in BBTD prevalence 27 | 1 study | Ungraded |