Findings

What do systematic reviews say?

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

1,954 questions · 2,335 findings · 149 reviews · Oral Health

No studies found 436 · 18.7%GRADE not reported 1,370 · 58.7%Very low 254 · 10.9%Low 173 · 7.4%Moderate 80 · 3.4%High 22 · 0.9%

Antiseptic mouthwash (e.g. chlorhexidine) vs Another topical agent or placebo

Patient‐reported pain intensity or pain relief (VAS, NRS or categorical scale) · HIV‐infected adults (> 13 years of age, per CDC) with one or more painful intraoral aphthous ulcers

The review found no eligible studies for this question.

1 finding from 1 review
  • No studies were included in this review. A total of 233 abstracts were retrieved; 25 were selected as potentially eligible but all were excluded (10 reported systemic rather than topical treatment; 3 non‐RCTs; 6…
    0 studies
    No studies found

Topical thalidomide vs Another topical agent or placebo

Patient‐reported pain intensity or pain relief (VAS, NRS or categorical scale) · HIV‐infected adults (> 13 years of age, per CDC) with one or more painful intraoral aphthous ulcers

The review found no eligible studies for this question.

1 finding from 1 review
  • No studies were included in this review. A total of 233 abstracts were retrieved; 25 were selected as potentially eligible but all were excluded (10 reported systemic rather than topical treatment; 3 non‐RCTs; 6…
    0 studies
    No studies found

Topical corticosteroids vs Another topical agent or placebo

Duration to heal oral ulcerations after initiation of treatment · HIV‐infected adults (> 13 years of age, per CDC) with one or more painful intraoral aphthous ulcers

The review found no eligible studies for this question.

1 finding from 1 review
  • No studies were included in this review. A total of 233 abstracts were retrieved; 25 were selected as potentially eligible but all were excluded (10 reported systemic rather than topical treatment; 3 non‐RCTs; 6…
    0 studies
    No studies found

Antiseptic mouthwash (e.g. chlorhexidine) vs Another topical agent or placebo

Duration to heal oral ulcerations after initiation of treatment · HIV‐infected adults (> 13 years of age, per CDC) with one or more painful intraoral aphthous ulcers

The review found no eligible studies for this question.

1 finding from 1 review
  • No studies were included in this review. A total of 233 abstracts were retrieved; 25 were selected as potentially eligible but all were excluded (10 reported systemic rather than topical treatment; 3 non‐RCTs; 6…
    0 studies
    No studies found

Topical thalidomide vs Another topical agent or placebo

Incidence and recurrence after healing of ulcers · HIV‐infected adults (> 13 years of age, per CDC) with one or more painful intraoral aphthous ulcers

The review found no eligible studies for this question.

1 finding from 1 review
  • No studies were included in this review. A total of 233 abstracts were retrieved; 25 were selected as potentially eligible but all were excluded (10 reported systemic rather than topical treatment; 3 non‐RCTs; 6…
    0 studies
    No studies found

Topical corticosteroids vs Another topical agent or placebo

Healing of ulceration · HIV‐infected adults (> 13 years of age, per CDC) with one or more painful intraoral aphthous ulcers

The review found no eligible studies for this question.

1 finding from 1 review
  • No studies were included in this review. A total of 233 abstracts were retrieved; 25 were selected as potentially eligible but all were excluded (10 reported systemic rather than topical treatment; 3 non‐RCTs; 6…
    0 studies
    No studies found

Antiseptic mouthwash (e.g. chlorhexidine) vs Another topical agent or placebo

Healing of ulceration · HIV‐infected adults (> 13 years of age, per CDC) with one or more painful intraoral aphthous ulcers

The review found no eligible studies for this question.

1 finding from 1 review
  • No studies were included in this review. A total of 233 abstracts were retrieved; 25 were selected as potentially eligible but all were excluded (10 reported systemic rather than topical treatment; 3 non‐RCTs; 6…
    0 studies
    No studies found

Topical corticosteroids vs Another topical agent or placebo

Patient‐reported pain intensity or pain relief (VAS, NRS or categorical scale) · HIV‐infected adults (> 13 years of age, per CDC) with one or more painful intraoral aphthous ulcers

The review found no eligible studies for this question.

1 finding from 1 review
  • No studies were included in this review. A total of 233 abstracts were retrieved; 25 were selected as potentially eligible but all were excluded (10 reported systemic rather than topical treatment; 3 non‐RCTs; 6…
    0 studies
    No studies found

Antiseptic mouthwash (e.g. chlorhexidine) vs Another topical agent or placebo

Incidence and recurrence after healing of ulcers · HIV‐infected adults (> 13 years of age, per CDC) with one or more painful intraoral aphthous ulcers

The review found no eligible studies for this question.

1 finding from 1 review
  • No studies were included in this review. A total of 233 abstracts were retrieved; 25 were selected as potentially eligible but all were excluded (10 reported systemic rather than topical treatment; 3 non‐RCTs; 6…
    0 studies
    No studies found

Topical corticosteroids vs Another topical agent or placebo

Incidence and recurrence after healing of ulcers · HIV‐infected adults (> 13 years of age, per CDC) with one or more painful intraoral aphthous ulcers

The review found no eligible studies for this question.

1 finding from 1 review
  • No studies were included in this review. A total of 233 abstracts were retrieved; 25 were selected as potentially eligible but all were excluded (10 reported systemic rather than topical treatment; 3 non‐RCTs; 6…
    0 studies
    No studies found

Topical thalidomide vs Another topical agent or placebo

Healing of ulceration · HIV‐infected adults (> 13 years of age, per CDC) with one or more painful intraoral aphthous ulcers

The review found no eligible studies for this question.

1 finding from 1 review
  • No studies were included in this review. A total of 233 abstracts were retrieved; 25 were selected as potentially eligible but all were excluded (10 reported systemic rather than topical treatment; 3 non‐RCTs; 6…
    0 studies
    No studies found

Topical thalidomide vs Another topical agent or placebo

Duration to heal oral ulcerations after initiation of treatment · HIV‐infected adults (> 13 years of age, per CDC) with one or more painful intraoral aphthous ulcers

The review found no eligible studies for this question.

1 finding from 1 review
  • No studies were included in this review. A total of 233 abstracts were retrieved; 25 were selected as potentially eligible but all were excluded (10 reported systemic rather than topical treatment; 3 non‐RCTs; 6…
    0 studies
    No studies found

Open reduction and fixation vs Closed (conservative) management (no active intervention other than soft diet, analgesics or antibiotics; or intermaxillary/maxillary-mandibular fixation with rigid or elastic traction)

Outcome not reported · Adults, over 18 years of age, with unilateral or bilateral fractures of the mandibular condyles

The review found no eligible studies for this question.

1 finding from 1 review

Low tooth brushing frequency (<2 times/day) vs High tooth brushing frequency (>=2 times/day)

Early childhood caries (ECC) · Healthy children under 6 years of age (6 months to 6 years); preschool children

After excluding an extreme outlier (Alhabdan 2018), the association between low brushing frequency and ECC remained statistically significant (pooled OR approximately 2.0, p=0.003; I2=87.5%); the exact estimate and its CI were not reported; ungraded.

2 findings from 1 review

Gamified oral health interventions (mobile apps, serious games, augmented reality, game-based education) vs Conventional or traditional oral health education, or non-gamified interventions (comparator varied; several studies were single-arm/uncontrolled)

Plaque index (PI) / oral hygiene · Children or adolescents

Gamified interventions appear to improve plaque control and oral hygiene status in children versus conventional methods, but the evidence is narrative and ungraded (individual-study P values only).

1 finding from 1 review
  • The Application of Gamification in Children's Oral Health Management: Systematic Review. 2025 All outcomes
    Post-intervention (predominantly short-term; long-term follow-up in a minority of studies) · School-based settings, specialized dental clinics, and home-based environments
    In the gamified mobile health app group, plaque control was superior (P<.05) compared with the conventional method group [Zolfaghari 2021]; a gamified/reminder sticker-book group showed a significant improvement in…
    Studies not reported
    GRADE not reported

Gamified mobile health app vs Conventional method

Plaque control · Children or adolescents

One RCT reported superior plaque control with a gamified mobile health app versus a conventional method; no effect estimate or GRADE assessment was reported.

1 finding from 1 review

Gamified oral health interventions (mobile apps, serious games, augmented reality, game-based education) vs Non-digital gamified oral health interventions (card/board games, storytelling, printed aids)

Long-term behavior change and overall oral health outcomes · Children or adolescents

Digital gamified interventions appear more effective than non-digital alternatives for long-term behavior change and oral health outcomes, but the evidence is narrative and ungraded.

1 finding from 1 review
  • The Application of Gamification in Children's Oral Health Management: Systematic Review. 2025 All outcomes
    Long-term follow-up (sustained behavior change) · Schools, dental clinics, and mobile-app user-testing environments
    Digital-based interventions were more effective in fostering long-term behavior change compared with nondigital alternatives and consistently outperformed nondigital alternatives in improving oral health outcomes;…
    Studies not reported
    GRADE not reported

Gamified mobile health app vs Nongamified intervention

Regular use rate · Children or adolescents

One RCT reported a 72.4% regular-use rate with a gamified mobile health app versus 48.3% with a nongamified intervention; no GRADE assessment was reported.

1 finding from 1 review