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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.
5 questions in 1 reviews · intervention: Systemic/community fluoridation · outcome domain: Caries increment (DMFS/DMFT)
current versionsNo studies 1 · 20%Ungraded 1 · 20%Very low 1 · 20%Low 2 · 40%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.
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| Question | Effect | Evidence | Status / GRADE |
|---|---|---|---|
Initiation of water fluoridation (artificial or natural) vs Low/non-fluoridated water (0.4 ppm fluoride or less) Caries in permanent teeth (change in DMFT) · People of all ages in a community setting; the included caries studies were all in children aged 3 to 16 years · Follow-up 8 to 11 years Water fluoridation for the prevention of dental caries (2015) · Cochrane | MD -1.16 [-1.61, -0.72] | 10 studies · 78764 participants | Low |
Cessation of water fluoridation (fluoride removed from the water supply) vs Continued fluoridated water Caries in deciduous teeth (dmft/dmfs) · People of all ages in a previously fluoridated community (Maupome 2001: children with generally low caries experience) Water fluoridation for the prevention of dental caries (2015) · Cochrane | No evidence to determine the effect of the cessation of water fluoridation on caries in deciduous teeth. No included study reported change in dmft following cessation. | 0 studies | No studies |
Cessation of water fluoridation (fluoride removed from the water supply) vs Continued fluoridated water Caries in permanent teeth (DMFS) · People of all ages in a previously fluoridated community (Maupome 2001: children with generally low caries experience) · Follow-up 3 years Water fluoridation for the prevention of dental caries (2015) · Cochrane | Insufficient evidence to determine the effect of the cessation of water fluoridation on caries. One study (Maupome 2001), at high risk of bias, over 3 years found no increase in caries in the fluoride-ended group… | 1 study · 9249 participants | Very low |
Initiation of water fluoridation (artificial or natural) vs Low/non-fluoridated water (0.4 ppm fluoride or less) Caries in deciduous teeth (change in dmft) · People of all ages in a community setting; the included caries studies were all in children aged 3 to 16 years · Follow-up 3 to 12 years Water fluoridation for the prevention of dental caries (2015) · Cochrane | MD -1.81 [-2.31, -1.31] | 9 studies · 44268 participants | Low |
Initiation of water fluoridation (artificial or natural) vs Low/non-fluoridated water (0.4 ppm fluoride or less) Caries in permanent teeth (change in DMFS) · Children aged about 12 to 16 years (Hardwick 1982), community setting · Follow-up (single study, Hardwick 1982) Water fluoridation for the prevention of dental caries (2015) · Cochrane | MD -2.46 [-3.81, -1.11] | 1 study · 343 participants | Ungraded |