Safety of sealants and fluoride varnishes (adverse events) · Children and adolescents (general population, aged under 20 years)
1 finding from 1 review
Time taken to apply pit and fissure sealant or fluoride varnish · Children and adolescents (general population, aged under 20 years)
The review found no eligible studies for this question.
1 finding from 1 review
Progression of dentinal carious lesions into enamel or dentine · Children and adolescents (general population, aged under 20 years)
Resin-modified glass ionomer fissure sealant showed no clear difference in progression of dentinal carious lesions into enamel or dentine compared with fluoride varnish; GRADE not reported.
1 finding from 1 review
Early childhood caries (ECC) · Children aged 6 years or younger (preschool children)
Adjusted analyses also showed no association between low birth weight and early childhood caries (adjusted OR 1.05, 95% CI 0.71 to 1.57); certainty not graded.
3 findings from 1 review
Caries incidence of first permanent molars (FPMs) · Generally healthy children aged 6 to 9 years with at least one fully erupted first permanent molar with deep fissures or early enamel…
After excluding the high-risk-of-bias study (Bravo 1996), fluoride varnish and fissure sealant did not differ in caries incidence of FPMs and heterogeneity fell to 0% (RR 1.05, 95% CI 0.91 to 1.22; 5 RCTs; ungraded).
3 findings from 1 review
Caries incidence (proportion of enrolled children developing dentin caries, ICDAS 4-6) · Generally healthy children aged 6 to 9 years with at least one fully erupted first permanent molar with deep fissures or early enamel…
Fluoride varnish and fissure sealant did not differ significantly in the proportion of children developing caries at 2 to 3 years (RR 1.12, 95% CI 0.60 to 2.09; 2 RCTs; ungraded).
1 finding from 1 review
Poor oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) · Children aged 3-12 years
Children from low-income families had higher odds of poor OHRQoL (OR 1.16, 95% CI 1.11-1.21; 4 studies; ungraded).
1 finding from 1 review
OR 1.16 [1.11, 1.21]
4 studies
GRADE not reported
Number of visits to the dentist for repair of sealant or fluoride varnish application · Children and adolescents (general population, aged under 20 years)
The review found no eligible studies for this question.
1 finding from 1 review
Early childhood caries (ECC) · Children aged 6 years or younger (preschool children)
In children aged 3 years or younger, preterm birth was not associated with early childhood caries (OR 0.90, 95% CI 0.59 to 1.37); certainty not graded.
2 findings from 1 review
Poor oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) · Children aged 3-12 years
A trim-and-fill sensitivity analysis pooling every exposure estimate gave an overall OR of 0.17 (95% CI 0.13-0.21) after correcting for significant publication bias (Fig. 13); this combined estimate spans heterogeneous exposures and is a publication-bias sensitivity result (ungraded).
1 finding from 1 review
Progression of dentinal carious lesions into enamel or dentine · Children and adolescents (general population, aged under 20 years)
The review found no eligible studies for this question.
1 finding from 1 review
Poor oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) · Children aged 3-12 years
Periodontal disease was associated with higher odds of poor OHRQoL (OR 1.15, 95% CI 1.12-1.18; 3 studies; no heterogeneity; ungraded).
1 finding from 1 review
OR 1.15 [1.12, 1.18]
3 studies
GRADE not reported
Poor oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) · Children aged 3-12 years
Girls had modestly higher odds of poor OHRQoL than boys (OR 1.13, 95% CI 1.09-1.17; 3 studies; ungraded).
1 finding from 1 review
OR 1.13 [1.09, 1.17]
3 studies
GRADE not reported
Poor oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) · Children aged 3-12 years
Higher dental caries experience was associated with substantially higher odds of poor OHRQoL (OR 1.66, 95% CI 1.43-1.88; 6 studies; high heterogeneity I2=83.5%; ungraded).
1 finding from 1 review
OR 1.66 [1.43, 1.88]
6 studies
GRADE not reported
Caries incidence of occlusal surfaces of first permanent molars · Generally healthy children aged 6 to 9 years with at least one fully erupted first permanent molar with deep fissures or early enamel…
After excluding Bravo 1996, occlusal caries incidence slightly favored fluoride varnish but was not significant, with heterogeneity falling to 0% (RR 0.98, 95% CI 0.82 to 1.16; 3 RCTs; ungraded).
2 findings from 1 review
Time taken to apply pit and fissure sealant or fluoride varnish · Children and adolescents (general population, aged under 20 years)
1 finding from 1 review
Changes in decayed, missing and filled (DMF) figures at whole-mouth level · Children and adolescents (general population, aged under 20 years)
1 finding from 1 review
Incidence of dentinal carious lesion on treated occlusal surfaces of molars or premolars (yes/no) · Children and adolescents (general population, aged under 20 years)
It is very uncertain whether resin-based fissure sealant (visible-light-polymerized) changes incidence of dentinal carious lesion on treated occlusal surfaces of… compared with fluoride varnish (very low certainty).
2 findings from 1 review
Increment of occlusal DMFS (decayed, missing, filled surfaces) of FPMs · Generally healthy children aged 6 to 9 years with at least one fully erupted first permanent molar with deep fissures or early enamel…
Fluoride varnish and fissure sealant did not differ significantly in occlusal DMFS increment of FPMs (MD 0.13, 95% CI -0.09 to 0.34; 3 RCTs; ungraded).
2 findings from 1 review
Change in DMF increment on occlusal surfaces of first permanent molars · Children and adolescents (general population, aged under 20 years)
Resin-modified glass ionomer fissure sealant plus oral health… showed no clear difference in change in DMF increment on occlusal surfaces of first permanent molars compared with fluoride varnish plus oral health education; GRADE not reported.
2 findings from 1 review
MD 0.07 [-0.03, 0.17]
1 study
GRADE not reported
MD 0.23 [0.02, 0.44]
1 study
GRADE not reported