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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.
26 questions in 4 reviews · cluster CL0218
current versionsNo studies 0 · 0%Ungraded 20 · 76.9%Very low 5 · 19.2%Low 1 · 3.8%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 |
|---|---|---|---|
Theory-based oral health education/promotion interventions (HBM, TPB, SCT, HAPA, TTM, PMT, SOC, PRECEDE-PROCEED, MI) vs Control (waitlist, routine/standard oral health education, or minimal intervention) DMFT scores (decayed, missing, filled teeth) · Children and adolescents aged 5-18 years · Post-intervention (follow-up 3 to 12 months, varies by study), Overall Health promotion theory-based educational interventions for improving oral health in children and… (2025) | SMD -0.11 [-0.27, 0.04] | 4 studies · 2556 participants | Low |
School-based supervised toothbrushing (STB) vs No intervention Dental caries increment, DMFS/dmfs (tooth-surface level) · Children in school or kindergarten settings (aged 3-14 years) · 2-3 years follow-up The effectiveness of school-based supervised tooth brushing intervention for preventing dental caries: a… (2025) | SMD -0.22 [-0.42, -0.01] | 3 studies · 1135 participants | Ungraded |
School-based supervised toothbrushing (STB) vs No intervention Dental caries increment, DMFT/dmft (whole-tooth level) · Children in school or kindergarten settings (aged 3-14 years) · 3-4 years follow-up The effectiveness of school-based supervised tooth brushing intervention for preventing dental caries: a… (2025) | SMD 0.05 [-0.27, 0.37] | 2 studies · 1239 participants | Ungraded |
Oral health education only (verbal, written, or audio-visual education) delivered by non-dental 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 · Oral health education only (vs comprehensive intervention) The effectiveness of behaviour change interventions delivered by non-dental health workers in promoting… (2022) | SMD -0.11 [-0.21, 0.00] | 2 studies | Ungraded |
Primary school-based interventions (one or more of: school health policy, oral health education, healthy school environment, access to oral health services, community involvement) vs No intervention or usual practice/activities Dental caries measured by DMFT scores · Primary school children (aged 3-16 years) attending primary school in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) · Post-intervention; follow-up varied across studies (interventions ranged from <2 years to >=2 years and longer), Age 6-8 years Effectiveness of primary school-based interventions in improving oral health of children in low- and… (2022) | SMD -0.11 [-0.17, -0.04] | NR | Ungraded |
Primary school-based interventions (one or more of: school health policy, oral health education, healthy school environment, access to oral health services, community involvement) vs No intervention or usual practice/activities Dental caries measured by net increment in DMFS scores · Primary school children (aged 3-16 years) attending primary school in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) · Post-intervention; follow-up varied across studies (interventions ranged from <2 years to >=2 years and longer), Intervention type: oral health education Effectiveness of primary school-based interventions in improving oral health of children in low- and… (2022) | SMD -1.05 [-2.03, -0.08] | 3 studies | Ungraded |
Primary school-based interventions (one or more of: school health policy, oral health education, healthy school environment, access to oral health services, community involvement) vs No intervention or usual practice/activities Dental caries prevalence measured by dmft or DMFT/S score greater than one · Primary school children (aged 3-16 years) attending primary school in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) · Post-intervention; follow-up varied across studies (interventions ranged from <2 years to >=2 years and longer) Effectiveness of primary school-based interventions in improving oral health of children in low- and… (2022) | RR 0.70 [0.53, 0.94] | 4 studies · 2968 participants | Very low |
Primary school-based interventions (one or more of: school health policy, oral health education, healthy school environment, access to oral health services, community involvement) vs No intervention or usual practice/activities Dental caries measured by net increment in DMFS scores · Primary school children (aged 3-16 years) attending primary school in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) · Post-intervention; follow-up varied across studies (interventions ranged from <2 years to >=2 years and longer), WHO health-promoting-schools framework Effectiveness of primary school-based interventions in improving oral health of children in low- and… (2022) | SMD -0.57 [-1.56, 0.42] | 2 studies | Ungraded |
Primary school-based interventions (one or more of: school health policy, oral health education, healthy school environment, access to oral health services, community involvement) vs No intervention or usual practice/activities Dental caries measured by net increment in DMFS scores · Primary school children (aged 3-16 years) attending primary school in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) · Post-intervention; follow-up varied across studies (interventions ranged from <2 years to >=2 years and longer), Non-WHO-framework interventions Effectiveness of primary school-based interventions in improving oral health of children in low- and… (2022) | SMD -1.88 [-3.15, -0.60] | NR | Ungraded |
Oral health education only (verbal, written, or audio-visual education) delivered by non-dental health workers vs Control (usual care, no intervention, or comparison group) Caries experience at the surface level (dmfs/defs) · Children (mean age newborn to ~5.2 years) and their parents/carers · Oral health education only (vs comprehensive intervention) The effectiveness of behaviour change interventions delivered by non-dental health workers in promoting… (2022) | SMD -0.20 [-0.43, 0.03] | 2 studies | Ungraded |
Primary school-based interventions (one or more of: school health policy, oral health education, healthy school environment, access to oral health services, community involvement) vs No intervention or usual practice/activities Dental caries measured by DMFS scores · Primary school children (aged 3-16 years) attending primary school in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) · Post-intervention; follow-up varied across studies (interventions ranged from <2 years to >=2 years and longer), <=3 intervention activities Effectiveness of primary school-based interventions in improving oral health of children in low- and… (2022) | SMD -0.58 [-1.62, 0.45] | NR | Ungraded |
Primary school-based interventions (one or more of: school health policy, oral health education, healthy school environment, access to oral health services, community involvement) vs No intervention or usual practice/activities Dental caries measured by DMFT scores · Primary school children (aged 3-16 years) attending primary school in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) · <2 years, Intervention duration <2 years Effectiveness of primary school-based interventions in improving oral health of children in low- and… (2022) | SMD 0.01 [-0.16, 0.18] | 3 studies | Ungraded |
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 surface level (dmfs/defs) · Children (mean age newborn to ~5.2 years) and their parents/carers The effectiveness of behaviour change interventions delivered by non-dental health workers in promoting… (2022) | SMD -0.15 [-0.25, -0.04] | 12 studies | Ungraded |
Primary school-based interventions (one or more of: school health policy, oral health education, healthy school environment, access to oral health services, community involvement) vs No intervention or usual practice/activities Dental caries measured by DMFT scores · Primary school children (aged 3-16 years) attending primary school in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) · Post-intervention; follow-up varied across studies (interventions ranged from <2 years to >=2 years and longer), Age 8-15 years Effectiveness of primary school-based interventions in improving oral health of children in low- and… (2022) | SMD -0.41 [-0.50, -0.32] | NR | Ungraded |
Primary school-based interventions (one or more of: school health policy, oral health education, healthy school environment, access to oral health services, community involvement) vs No intervention or usual practice/activities Dental caries prevalence measured by dmft or DMFT/S score greater than one · Primary school children (aged 3-16 years) attending primary school in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) · <2 years, Intervention duration <2 years Effectiveness of primary school-based interventions in improving oral health of children in low- and… (2022) | RR 0.95 [0.75, 1.21] | 2 studies | Ungraded |
Primary school-based interventions (one or more of: school health policy, oral health education, healthy school environment, access to oral health services, community involvement) vs No intervention or usual practice/activities Dental caries measured by net increment in DMFS scores · Primary school children (aged 3-16 years) attending primary school in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) · Post-intervention; follow-up varied across studies (interventions ranged from <2 years to >=2 years and longer), Intervention type: other (daily tooth brushing) Effectiveness of primary school-based interventions in improving oral health of children in low- and… (2022) | SMD -1.23 [-1.46, -1.00] | 1 study | Ungraded |
Primary school-based interventions (one or more of: school health policy, oral health education, healthy school environment, access to oral health services, community involvement) vs No intervention or usual practice/activities Dental caries measured by DMFT scores · Primary school children (aged 3-16 years) attending primary school in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) · >=2 years, Intervention duration >=2 years Effectiveness of primary school-based interventions in improving oral health of children in low- and… (2022) | SMD -0.49 [-0.79, -0.19] | 4 studies | Ungraded |
Primary school-based interventions (one or more of: school health policy, oral health education, healthy school environment, access to oral health services, community involvement) vs No intervention or usual practice/activities Dental caries measured by DMFT scores · Primary school children (aged 3-16 years) attending primary school in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) · Post-intervention; follow-up varied across studies (interventions ranged from <2 years to >=2 years and longer) Effectiveness of primary school-based interventions in improving oral health of children in low- and… (2022) | SMD -0.33 [-0.56, -0.10] | 7 studies · 6766 participants | Very low |
Primary school-based interventions (one or more of: school health policy, oral health education, healthy school environment, access to oral health services, community involvement) vs No intervention or usual practice/activities Dental caries measured by net increment in DMFT scores · Primary school children (aged 3-16 years) attending primary school in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) · Post-intervention; follow-up varied across studies (interventions ranged from <2 years to >=2 years and longer), Age 5-8 years Effectiveness of primary school-based interventions in improving oral health of children in low- and… (2022) | SMD -0.36 [-0.76, 0.04] | 5 studies | Ungraded |
Primary school-based interventions (one or more of: school health policy, oral health education, healthy school environment, access to oral health services, community involvement) vs No intervention or usual practice/activities Dental caries measured by DMFS scores · Primary school children (aged 3-16 years) attending primary school in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) · Post-intervention; follow-up varied across studies (interventions ranged from <2 years to >=2 years and longer) Effectiveness of primary school-based interventions in improving oral health of children in low- and… (2022) | SMD -0.26 [-0.70, 0.18] | 5 studies · 3506 participants | Very low |
Primary school-based interventions (one or more of: school health policy, oral health education, healthy school environment, access to oral health services, community involvement) vs No intervention or usual practice/activities Dental caries measured by net increment in DMFT scores · Primary school children (aged 3-16 years) attending primary school in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) · Post-intervention; follow-up varied across studies (interventions ranged from <2 years to >=2 years and longer) Effectiveness of primary school-based interventions in improving oral health of children in low- and… (2022) | SMD -0.34 [-0.69, 0.02] | 5 studies · 5492 participants | Very low |
Primary school-based interventions (one or more of: school health policy, oral health education, healthy school environment, access to oral health services, community involvement) vs No intervention or usual practice/activities Dental caries prevalence measured by dmft or DMFT/S score greater than one · Primary school children (aged 3-16 years) attending primary school in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) · >=2 years, Intervention duration >=2 years Effectiveness of primary school-based interventions in improving oral health of children in low- and… (2022) | RR 0.58 [0.40, 0.84] | 2 studies | Ungraded |
Primary school-based interventions (one or more of: school health policy, oral health education, healthy school environment, access to oral health services, community involvement) vs No intervention or usual practice/activities Dental caries measured by DMFS scores · Primary school children (aged 3-16 years) attending primary school in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) · Post-intervention; follow-up varied across studies (interventions ranged from <2 years to >=2 years and longer), >3 intervention activities Effectiveness of primary school-based interventions in improving oral health of children in low- and… (2022) | SMD 0.02 [-0.13, 0.17] | NR | Ungraded |
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 The effectiveness of behaviour change interventions delivered by non-dental health workers in promoting… (2022) | SMD -0.34 [-0.54, -0.13] | 6 studies | Ungraded |
Primary school-based interventions (one or more of: school health policy, oral health education, healthy school environment, access to oral health services, community involvement) vs No intervention or usual practice/activities Dental caries measured by net increment in DMFT scores · Primary school children (aged 3-16 years) attending primary school in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) · Post-intervention; follow-up varied across studies (interventions ranged from <2 years to >=2 years and longer), Age 9-12 years Effectiveness of primary school-based interventions in improving oral health of children in low- and… (2022) | SMD -0.20 [-0.44, 0.04] | 1 study | Ungraded |
Primary school-based interventions (one or more of: school health policy, oral health education, healthy school environment, access to oral health services, community involvement) vs No intervention or usual practice/activities Dental caries measured by net increment in DMFS scores · Primary school children (aged 3-16 years) attending primary school in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) · Post-intervention; follow-up varied across studies (interventions ranged from <2 years to >=2 years and longer) Effectiveness of primary school-based interventions in improving oral health of children in low- and… (2022) | SMD -1.09 [-1.91, -0.27] | 4 studies · 3755 participants | Very low |