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Evidence found and GRADE certainty

417 questions · 819 findings · 72 reviews

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No studies found 9 · 1.1%GRADE not reported 759 · 92.7%Very low 39 · 4.8%Low 5 · 0.6%Moderate 6 · 0.7%High 1 · 0.1%

Vitamin D deficiency (serum 25(OH)D < 50 nmol/L) vs Normal vitamin D level (serum 25(OH)D ≥ 50 nmol/L)

Dental caries · Children with deciduous dentition (<6 years)

In children with deciduous dentition, vitamin D deficiency was associated with a 68% higher caries risk (RR 1.68; ungraded).

1 finding from 1 review

Vitamin D deficiency (serum 25(OH)D < 50 nmol/L) vs Normal vitamin D level (serum 25(OH)D ≥ 50 nmol/L)

Dental caries · Children (mixed dentition; baseline about 8 years)

In children with mixed dentition, vitamin D deficiency was associated with an 8% higher caries risk (RR 1.08; ungraded).

1 finding from 1 review

Clinical examination with 24-month recall vs Clinical examination with 12-month recall

Dental caries: dmfs increment (primary teeth) · Regular-attending primary-care dental patients aged 3, 16 or 18 years at entry (aged up to 20; low caries risk)

It is very uncertain whether clinical examination with 24-month recall changes dental caries: dmfs increment (primary teeth) compared with clinical examination with 12-month recall (very low certainty).

1 finding from 1 review

Clinical examination with 24-month recall vs Clinical examination with 12-month recall

Caries increment in permanent teeth · Regular-attending primary-care dental patients aged 3, 16 or 18 years at entry (aged up to 20; low caries risk)

It is very uncertain whether clinical examination with 24-month recall changes dental caries: DMFS increment (permanent teeth) compared with clinical examination with 12-month recall (very low certainty).

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)

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

Vegetarian diet (any diet excluding all meat, poultry and fish) vs Nonvegetarian diet

Caries experience (mean DMFT) · General population (children and adults) assessed for dental hard-tissue health

Among adults, the lower DMFT score in vegetarians was smaller and not statistically significant (mean difference -0.09, 95% CI -0.32 to 0.13; ungraded).

2 findings from 1 review

Maternal smoking during pregnancy vs No maternal smoking during pregnancy

Dental caries in children · Children in cross-sectional studies

The cross-sectional association remained statistically significant after excluding Julihn et al. 2018.

7 findings from 1 review
Show 4 more findings

Initiation of water fluoridation (artificial or natural) vs Low/non-fluoridated water (0.4 ppm fluoride or less)

Dental caries in adults · adults

The review found no eligible studies for this question.

1 finding from 1 review
  • Water fluoridation for the prevention of dental caries 2015 · Cochrane All outcomes
    Adults
    No studies that aimed to determine the effectiveness of water fluoridation for preventing caries in adults met the review's inclusion criteria. There are no data to determine the effect of water fluoridation on caries…
    0 studies
    No studies found

Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) vs Children without anemia (non-anemic)

Dental caries · Children or adolescents

Children with iron deficiency anemia are over three times more likely to have dental caries than non-anemic children (OR 3.64, 95% CI 2.45 to 5.40; moderate certainty).

1 finding from 1 review

Prenatal vitamin D deficiency (low maternal 25(OH)D during pregnancy) vs Adequate prenatal vitamin D (sufficient maternal 25(OH)D)

Dental caries prevalence · Children aged 2 to 8 years

The review reported 44% dental caries prevalence among children of mothers with low prenatal vitamin D.

2 findings from 1 review

Intervention not reported

Dental caries prevalence · General population (children and adults) in East Africa

Caries prevalence in permanent dentition (>=12 years) was 50.2% (95% CI 38.4 to 62.1); certainty not graded.

1 finding from 1 review

Not applicable (single-group prevalence) vs Not applicable

Dental caries prevalence · General Pakistani population (all ages and both sexes; predominantly children and adolescents)

Fixed-effect pooled dental caries prevalence was 57.0% (95% CI 56.4% to 57.6%).

1 finding from 1 review

Intervention not reported

Dental caries prevalence · General population in Ethiopia (all ages, age range 6-100 years)

Caries prevalence was lowest in Addis Ababa at 34.20% (95% CI 8.42 to 59.97); certainty not graded.

1 finding from 1 review