Findings

What do systematic reviews say?

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Evidence found and GRADE certainty

1,954 questions · 2,335 findings · 149 reviews · All outcomes

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%

Resin-modified glass-ionomer cement (RMGIC) restoration vs Amalgam, compomer, composite resin, or glass carbomer

Treatment failure (annual failure rate) · Children with previously unrestored, vital carious lesions in primary teeth (no pulp therapy); aged 1.5-11 years

RMGIC had an annual failure rate of 1.9-16.9% (4 RCTs), lower than amalgam and similar to compomer/composite; low quality of evidence (ungraded).

1 finding from 1 review

Traditional screening (referral card given if the inspecting dentist judges the child needs to see a dentist) vs No screening

Proportion of children with treated/untreated caries (receipt of dental care) · School children (aged 4 to 15 years), primary and secondary schools in the UK and India

The review found no eligible studies for this question.

1 finding from 1 review

Caries experience measurement (mean D(M)FS, enamel lesions included) vs None (descriptive prevalence review; subgroup analyses by urban/rural status, country and year)

Dental caries · European adolescents aged 12–19 years

Mean caries experience (DMFS) in subgroup 'Examination type: full-mouth' was 6.56 (95% CI 4.55 to 9.47; 12 studies).

11 findings from 1 review
Show 8 more findings

Oral health education only (verbal, written, or audio-visual education) 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

Oral-health-education-only interventions showed at most a marginal effect on tooth-level caries (dmft SMD -0.11, 95% CI -0.21 to -0.00; 2 studies; not GRADE-rated).

1 finding from 1 review

Male sex (boys) vs Female sex

Caries development in permanent teeth · School children and adolescents (6-18 years) followed from primary dentition (baseline examination before 72 months of age)

Gender is not associated with caries development in permanent teeth (OR 0.86, 95% CI 0.71 to 1.02; low certainty).

1 finding from 1 review

Atraumatic restorative treatment vs placebo

Oral health-related quality of life · Children with dental caries

ART and placebo did not differ for oral health-related quality of life, based on an indirect network estimate with no direct trials (MD -0.01, 95% CI -0.40 to 0.38; ungraded).

1 finding from 1 review

Traditional screening (referral card given if the inspecting dentist judges the child needs to see a dentist) vs No screening

Developmental defects of enamel measured by any validated index · School children (aged 4 to 15 years), primary and secondary schools in the UK and India

The review found no eligible studies for this question.

1 finding from 1 review

Relaxation vs Occlusal (oral) appliance

Patient‐reported pain intensity or pain relief (VAS, NRS or categorical scale) · People aged 12 years and over with painful TMD lasting 3 months or longer

Relaxation showed no clear difference in pain intensity compared with occlusal (oral) appliance; GRADE not reported.

1 finding from 1 review
  • Psychological therapies for temporomandibular disorders (TMDs) 2022 · Cochrane All outcomes
    Treatment completion · Adolescents (12-19 years)
    Not pooled. Wahlund 2015: MD 3.70 (95% CI -1.21 to 8.61), n=57 (relaxation 28, appliance 29); Wahlund 2003: MD not reported, n=83 (relaxation 41, appliance 42). Both studies were in adolescents; the occlusal appliance…
    2 studies · 140 participants
    GRADE not reported

Primary school-based interventions (one or more of: school health policy, oral health education, healthy school environment, access to oral health services, community involvement) vs usual practice

Plaque index (PI) / oral hygiene · Primary school children (aged 3-16 years) attending primary school in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs)

School-based interventions may reduce dental plaque scores (SMD -0.32, favouring intervention), but the certainty of evidence is very low.

1 finding from 1 review

Genetically predicted gene expression (TWAS; S-PrediXcan with GTEx v8 cis-eQTL across 49 tissues; cross-tissue S-MultiXcan) vs ECC-unaffected children (association of genetically predicted expression)

Early childhood caries (ECC) - association with genetically predicted expression of TAS2R43 (chr12p13.2) · Children up to age 5-6 years (European / European non-Hispanic ancestry); 843 ECC-affected vs 2124 unaffected across 5 cohorts (N=2974)

Genetically predicted expression of TAS2R43 was significantly associated with ECC in the TWAS (p = 8.78e-8); genetic association, ungraded.

1 finding from 1 review

Fluoride-releasing resin-based sealant vs No sealant (control/no treatment)

Development of >=1 new carious lesion (caries incidence) · Children with caries-free or non-cavitated carious lesion primary molars, aged 3-7 years (paediatric department, dental hospital, France)
2 findings from 1 review

Traditional screening (referral card given if the inspecting dentist judges the child needs to see a dentist) vs No screening

Trauma to permanent incisor teeth · School children (aged 4 to 15 years), primary and secondary schools in the UK and India
1 finding from 1 review
  • Milsom 2006 reported the prevalence of trauma to the permanent incisor teeth as a dichotomous outcome (reduction from baseline yes/no); we were unable to include this data in a meta-analysis.
    1 study
    GRADE not reported

Not applicable (single-group prevalence) vs Not applicable

Dental caries prevalence · Children aged 12 years (plus or minus one year) in Africa

The pooled dental-caries prevalence was 0.3657 (95% CI 0.3065 to 0.4250); GRADE was not reported.

2 findings from 1 review

Genetically predicted gene expression (TWAS; S-PrediXcan with GTEx v8 cis-eQTL across 49 tissues; cross-tissue S-MultiXcan) vs ECC-unaffected children (association of genetically predicted expression)

Early childhood caries (ECC) - association with genetically predicted expression of SMIM10L1 (chr12p13.2) · Children up to age 5-6 years (European / European non-Hispanic ancestry); 843 ECC-affected vs 2124 unaffected across 5 cohorts (N=2974)

Genetically predicted expression of SMIM10L1 was significantly associated with ECC in the TWAS (p = 1.70e-7); genetic association, ungraded.

1 finding from 1 review