Findings

What do systematic reviews say?

Refine by population, intervention, comparison or outcome
More filters
Evidence found and GRADE certainty

720 questions · 804 findings · 103 reviews

No studies found 207 · 25.7%GRADE not reported 161 · 20%Very low 192 · 23.9%Low 160 · 19.9%Moderate 78 · 9.7%High 6 · 0.7%

Package of oral health education/promotion including oral hygiene advice for pregnant women, mothers, infants and young children, plus dietary and feeding practice advice for infants and young children vs usual care

Caries presence in top front four teeth · For interventions, pregnant women, mothers or other caregivers of infants in the first year of life; for outcomes, children up to 6 years…

It is very uncertain whether package of oral health education/promotion including oral hygiene… changes caries presence in top front four teeth compared with standard care (very low certainty).

1 finding from 1 review

Package of oral health education/promotion including oral hygiene advice for pregnant women, mothers, infants and young children, plus dietary and feeding practice advice for infants and young children vs usual care

Dental caries · For interventions, pregnant women, mothers or other caregivers of infants in the first year of life; for outcomes, children up to 6 years…

Package of oral health education/promotion including oral hygiene… showed no clear difference in dmfs index score compared with standard care (low certainty).

2 findings from 1 review

Package of oral health education/promotion including oral hygiene advice for pregnant women, mothers, infants and young children, plus dietary and feeding practice advice for infants and young children vs usual care

Mother self-reported oral health behaviours · For interventions, pregnant women, mothers or other caregivers of infants in the first year of life; for outcomes, children up to 6 years…
1 finding from 1 review

Package of oral health education/promotion including oral hygiene advice for pregnant women, mothers, infants and young children, plus dietary and feeding practice advice for infants and young children vs usual care

Child dental attendance · For interventions, pregnant women, mothers or other caregivers of infants in the first year of life; for outcomes, children up to 6 years…
1 finding from 1 review

Package of oral health education/promotion including oral hygiene advice for pregnant women, mothers, infants and young children, plus dietary and feeding practice advice for infants and young children vs usual care

Child oral health behaviours · For interventions, pregnant women, mothers or other caregivers of infants in the first year of life; for outcomes, children up to 6 years…
1 finding from 1 review

Package of oral health education/promotion including oral hygiene advice for pregnant women, mothers, infants and young children, plus dietary and feeding practice advice for infants and young children vs usual care

Adverse events for mother or child · For interventions, pregnant women, mothers or other caregivers of infants in the first year of life; for outcomes, children up to 6 years…
1 finding from 1 review

Package of oral health education/promotion including oral hygiene advice for pregnant women, mothers, infants and young children, plus dietary and feeding practice advice for infants and young children vs usual care

Child plaque (any plaque visible on any teeth) · For interventions, pregnant women, mothers or other caregivers of infants in the first year of life; for outcomes, children up to 6 years…

Package of oral health education/promotion including oral hygiene… led to lower child plaque (any plaque visible on any teeth) compared with standard care; GRADE not reported.

1 finding from 1 review

Package of oral health education/promotion including oral hygiene advice for pregnant women, mothers, infants and young children, plus dietary and feeding practice advice for infants and young children vs usual care

d1-4 efs · For interventions, pregnant women, mothers or other caregivers of infants in the first year of life; for outcomes, children up to 6 years…
1 finding from 1 review

Package of oral health education/promotion including oral hygiene advice for pregnant women, mothers, infants and young children, plus dietary and feeding practice advice for infants and young children vs usual care

Child microbiological presence (any mutans streptococci colonisation) · For interventions, pregnant women, mothers or other caregivers of infants in the first year of life; for outcomes, children up to 6 years…

Package of oral health education/promotion including oral hygiene… showed no clear difference in child microbiological presence (mutans streptococci colonisation) compared with standard care; GRADE not reported.

1 finding from 1 review

Package of oral health education/promotion including oral hygiene advice for pregnant women, mothers, infants and young children, plus dietary and feeding practice advice for infants and young children vs usual care

SiC30 index score · For interventions, pregnant women, mothers or other caregivers of infants in the first year of life; for outcomes, children up to 6 years…

Package of oral health education/promotion including oral hygiene… led to lower siC30 index score compared with standard care; GRADE not reported.

1 finding from 1 review

Oral health education/promotion (oral hygiene advice plus diet and feeding practice advice) combined with clinical treatment for mother's dentition (basic restorative and preventive; 1 trial included CHX varnish application) vs usual care

Mother microbiological presence (high-level mutans streptococci / lactobacilli) · For interventions, pregnant women and mothers of infants in the first year of life; for outcomes, children up to 6 years of age

Oral health education/promotion (oral hygiene advice plus diet and… showed no clear difference in mother microbiological presence (high-level mutans streptococci /… compared with standard care; GRADE not reported.

1 finding from 1 review

Oral health education/promotion (oral hygiene advice plus diet and feeding practice advice) combined with clinical treatment for mother's dentition (basic restorative and preventive; 1 trial included CHX varnish application) vs usual care

Dental caries · For interventions, pregnant women and mothers of infants in the first year of life; for outcomes, children up to 6 years of age

The review found no eligible studies for this question.

2 findings from 1 review

Oral health education/promotion (oral hygiene advice plus diet and feeding practice advice) combined with clinical treatment for mother's dentition (basic restorative and preventive; 1 trial included CHX varnish application) vs usual care

Child oral health behaviours · For interventions, pregnant women and mothers of infants in the first year of life; for outcomes, children up to 6 years of age
1 finding from 1 review

Oral health education/promotion (oral hygiene advice plus diet and feeding practice advice) combined with clinical treatment for mother's dentition (basic restorative and preventive; 1 trial included CHX varnish application) vs usual care

Caries presence in primary teeth · For interventions, pregnant women and mothers of infants in the first year of life; for outcomes, children up to 6 years of age

It is very uncertain whether oral health education/promotion (oral hygiene advice plus diet and… changes caries presence in primary teeth compared with standard care (very low certainty).

1 finding from 1 review

Comprehensive oral health intervention (oral health education plus additional support: motivational interviewing, toothbrush/toothpaste provision, community engagement, and/or fluoride varnish/sealant application) delivered by non-dental health workers vs control (no intervention/usual care/isotonic exercise)

Caries experience at the surface level (dmfs/defs) · Children (mean age newborn to ~5.2 years) and their parents/carers

Comprehensive interventions produced a small, statistically significant reduction in surface-level caries (dmfs SMD -0.14, 95% CI -0.26 to -0.02; 10 studies; not GRADE-rated).

1 finding from 1 review

Comprehensive oral health intervention (oral health education plus additional support: motivational interviewing, toothbrush/toothpaste provision, community engagement, and/or fluoride varnish/sealant application) delivered by non-dental health workers vs control (no intervention/usual care/isotonic exercise)

Caries experience · Children (mean age newborn to ~5.2 years) and their parents/carers

Comprehensive interventions produced a statistically significant reduction in tooth-level caries (dmft SMD -0.47, 95% CI -0.84 to -0.10; 4 studies; not GRADE-rated), though heterogeneity was very high.

1 finding from 1 review

Strategies to integrate oral health into primary care (e.g., training/education of non-dental primary care professionals, policy/financing and health-insurance changes, colocation of dental and medical services, interprofessional and community-health-worker collaboration, teledentistry, integrated oral health assessment tools, school-based activities) vs No integration / usual care (or pre-integration baseline; many included studies uncontrolled)

Access to oral healthcare (referral pathways, documentation processes, operating efficiencies, staffing, visits for oral health issues, uptake of fluoride varnish/other preventive treatment, and visits to an oral health professional) · People of all ages and abilities served through primary care and related settings (children, pregnant women, older adults in…

Most strategies to integrate oral health into primary care were associated with improved access to oral healthcare (19 studies, narrative synthesis; ungraded).

1 finding from 1 review
  • Strategies to integrate oral health into primary care: a systematic review. 2023 All outcomes
    Primary care, community, school, and aged-care/residential/nursing-home settings
    Access to oral healthcare was the primary outcome most studied (n=19). Most studies reported results favouring the integration strategy, including improvements in referral pathways, documentation processes, operating…
    19 studies
    GRADE not reported

Strategies to integrate oral health into primary care (e.g., training/education of non-dental primary care professionals, policy/financing and health-insurance changes, colocation of dental and medical services, interprofessional and community-health-worker collaboration, teledentistry, integrated oral health assessment tools, school-based activities) vs No integration / usual care (or pre-integration baseline; many included studies uncontrolled)

Knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of staff and patients regarding oral health · People of all ages and abilities served through primary care and related settings (children, pregnant women, older adults in…

Integration strategies were generally associated with positive oral health knowledge, attitudes and perceptions among staff and patients (16 studies, narrative synthesis; ungraded).

1 finding from 1 review
  • Strategies to integrate oral health into primary care: a systematic review. 2023 All outcomes
    Primary care, community, school, and aged-care/residential/nursing-home settings
    Knowledge/attitudes/perceptions of staff and patients was the second most studied outcome (n=16). Patient and staff perceptions on various aspects of the integration strategy were usually reported as positive.…
    16 studies
    GRADE not reported

Strategies to integrate oral health into primary care (e.g., training/education of non-dental primary care professionals, policy/financing and health-insurance changes, colocation of dental and medical services, interprofessional and community-health-worker collaboration, teledentistry, integrated oral health assessment tools, school-based activities) vs No integration / usual care (or pre-integration baseline; many included studies uncontrolled)

Barriers and facilitators to implementation of the integration strategy (qualitative) · People of all ages and abilities served through primary care and related settings (children, pregnant women, older adults in…

Key barriers to implementing integration strategies were time/staff/resource constraints and lack of organisational support, while facilitators were professionals' knowledge and attitudes and supportive governance/leadership (qualitative; ungraded).

1 finding from 1 review
  • Strategies to integrate oral health into primary care: a systematic review. 2023 All outcomes
    Primary care, community, school, and aged-care/residential/nursing-home settings
    The most commonly studied qualitative outcomes were barriers and facilitators related to the strategy implementation process. Reported barriers were time and staff constraints, resource limitations and lack of…
    15 studies
    GRADE not reported

Strategies to integrate oral health into primary care (e.g., training/education of non-dental primary care professionals, policy/financing and health-insurance changes, colocation of dental and medical services, interprofessional and community-health-worker collaboration, teledentistry, integrated oral health assessment tools, school-based activities) vs No integration / usual care (or pre-integration baseline; many included studies uncontrolled)

Oral disease outcomes, including dental caries estimates · People of all ages and abilities served through primary care and related settings (children, pregnant women, older adults in…

Most studies reported improved oral disease outcomes with integration strategies (8 of 9 studies improved, 1 no change; 9 studies, narrative synthesis; ungraded).

1 finding from 1 review
  • Strategies to integrate oral health into primary care: a systematic review. 2023 All outcomes
    Primary care, community, school, and aged-care/residential/nursing-home settings
    Nine studies reported oral disease outcomes, seven of which measured change in dental caries estimates. Eight of the nine studies reported improved oral disease outcomes; one (Vichayanrat 2012) reported no change in…
    9 studies
    GRADE not reported