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Evidence found and GRADE certainty

678 questions · 854 findings · 51 reviews · Dental caries

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No studies found 38 · 4.4%GRADE not reported 675 · 79%Very low 61 · 7.1%Low 47 · 5.5%Moderate 32 · 3.7%High 1 · 0.1%

Longitudinal follow-up over time (natural caries progression; no assigned intervention) vs Within-cohort change from baseline to follow-up (>=3 y)

Annual increment in DMFT (permanent dentition) · Children and adolescents (permanent dentition, D3, up to 21 y), Western or comparable populations

In the permanent dentition, the annual DMFT increment ranged from 0.06 to 0.73 across 14 studies, and was higher where baseline caries experience was higher (descriptive range; ungraded).

4 findings from 1 review
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  • Caries Progression Rates Revisited: A Systematic Review. 2019 All outcomes
    Per year of follow-up · Western Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand (or comparable Western populations) · Baseline caries experience: moderate
    0.24 to 0.73
    6 studies · 16705 participants
    GRADE not reported

Longitudinal follow-up over time (natural caries progression; no assigned intervention) vs Within-cohort change from baseline to follow-up (>=3 y)

Caries development in permanent teeth · Children and adolescents (permanent dentition, D3, up to 21 y), Western or comparable populations

In the permanent dentition, the annual DMFS increment ranged from 0.07 to 1.77 across 26 studies, and was higher where baseline caries experience was higher (descriptive range; ungraded).

4 findings from 1 review
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  • Caries Progression Rates Revisited: A Systematic Review. 2019 All outcomes
    Per year of follow-up · Western Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand (or comparable Western populations) · Baseline caries experience: low
    0.07 to 0.53
    8 studies · 3735 participants
    GRADE not reported

Longitudinal follow-up over time (natural caries progression; no assigned intervention) vs Within-cohort change from baseline to follow-up (>=3 y)

Dental caries: dmfs increment (primary teeth) · Children (primary dentition, d3), Western or comparable populations

In the primary dentition, the annual dmfs increment ranged from -1.0 to 1.0 across 7 studies; values were inconsistent because of tooth exfoliation and could not be pooled (ungraded).

1 finding from 1 review

Longitudinal follow-up over time (natural caries progression; no assigned intervention) vs Within-cohort change from baseline to follow-up (>=3 y)

Annual decline in percentage of caries-free children (primary dentition, d3) · Children (primary dentition, d3), Western or comparable populations

In the primary dentition, the annual decline in the percentage of caries-free children ranged from 3.8% to 12.2% across 6 studies (descriptive range, no pooled estimate; ungraded).

1 finding from 1 review

Longitudinal follow-up over time (natural caries progression; no assigned intervention) vs Within-cohort change from baseline to follow-up (>=3 y)

Caries incidence rate (first D3 lesion) per person-year at risk (permanent dentition) · Children and adolescents (permanent dentition, D3, up to 21 y), Western or comparable populations

In the permanent dentition, the pooled caries incidence rate was 0.11 per person-year at risk (95% CI 0.09 to 0.13; random-effects meta-analysis of 15 studies), i.e., about 11 of every 100 caries-free persons develop dentine caries each year (ungraded).

1 finding from 1 review
  • Caries Progression Rates Revisited: A Systematic Review. 2019 All outcomes
    Per person-year at risk · Western Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand (or comparable Western populations)
    Incidence rate (per person-year at risk) 0.11 [0.09, 0.13]
    15 studies · 10768 participants
    GRADE not reported

Longitudinal follow-up over time (natural caries progression; no assigned intervention) vs Within-cohort change from baseline to follow-up (>=3 y)

Annual increment in dmft (primary dentition) · Children (primary dentition, d3), Western or comparable populations

In the primary dentition, the annual dmft increment ranged from -0.3 to 0.3 across 4 studies; values were inconsistent because of tooth exfoliation and could not be pooled (ungraded).

1 finding from 1 review

HDI (quantitative) vs Populations in countries with a higher Human Development Index (very high, HDI >=0.800)

Caries experience (mean DMFT) · Adults aged 19-60 years

Pooled caries experience (DMFT) was similar in very-high-HDI and high-HDI countries, and meta-regression found no significant association between national HDI and DMFT; ungraded observational evidence with very high heterogeneity.

3 findings from 1 review

New types of fissure sealant (e.g. ormocer-based) vs No sealant (control)

Outcome not reported · Children and adolescents (general population, aged under 20 years)

The review found no eligible studies for this question.

1 finding from 1 review

Resin-based fissure sealant (2nd/3rd/4th generation) vs No sealant (control/no treatment)

Caries on occlusal surfaces of permanent molars (12 months) · Children and adolescents (general population, aged under 20 years)

Resin-based fissure sealant (2nd/3rd/4th generation) led to lower caries on occlusal surfaces of permanent molars (36 months) compared with no sealant (control/no treatment); GRADE not reported.

3 findings from 1 review

Glass ionomer-based sealant vs No sealant (control/no treatment)

Dentine caries in permanent molars (24 months) · Children and adolescents (general population, aged under 20 years)
1 finding from 1 review
  • Pit and fissure sealants for preventing dental decay in permanent teeth 2017 · Cochrane All outcomes
    24 months
    Inconclusive results: two studies slightly favoured glass ionomers (Liu 2014b OR 0.46 (0.23-0.91); Tagliaferro 2011) evaluating 426 children; one study (Songpaisan 1995) found no difference (MD DFS -0.18 (-0.39 to…
    3 studies · 830 participants
    Very low

Resin-based fissure sealant (2nd/3rd/4th generation) vs No sealant (control/no treatment)

Dentine caries in permanent molars (24 months) · Children and adolescents (general population, aged under 20 years)

Resin-based fissure sealant (2nd/3rd/4th generation) probably leads to lower dentine caries in permanent molars (24 months) compared with no sealant (control/no treatment) (moderate certainty).

1 finding from 1 review

Glass ionomer-based sealant vs Resin-based sealant

Dentine caries in permanent molars (24 months) · Children and adolescents (general population, aged under 20 years)
1 finding from 1 review

Low socioeconomic position and adverse behavioural factors vs Higher socioeconomic position and fewer adverse behaviours

Systemic inflammation (C-reactive protein) and periodontal disease progression · General-population adults (German cohort)

In one 5-year longitudinal study, accumulation of low socioeconomic and behavioural factors was associated with greater periodontal disease progression and higher C-reactive protein; not pooled (ungraded).

1 finding from 1 review

Higher drinking-water fluoride exposure vs Lower water fluoride concentration (concurrent control)

Dental fluorosis of aesthetic concern (Dean's Index, TFI, TSIF) · Populations of all ages (mostly children) exposed to drinking water with differing fluoride concentrations

Higher water fluoride concentration (fluoridated water; natural or… may leads to higher dental fluorosis of aesthetic concern (Dean's Index, TFI, TSIF) compared with lower water fluoride concentration (concurrent control) (low certainty).

1 finding from 1 review