Findings

What do systematic reviews say?

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Evidence found and GRADE certainty

1,378 questions · 2,146 findings · 145 reviews

No studies found 167 · 7.8%GRADE not reported 1,674 · 78%Very low 148 · 6.9%Low 113 · 5.3%Moderate 40 · 1.9%High 4 · 0.2%

Silver diamine fluoride (SDF) vs Nano-silver fluoride (NSF; with or without green tea extract)

Caries arrestment at the individual (patient) level · Children and adults with active dental caries (aged 1-50; mostly preschool/school children with primary dentition)

Pooling two trials, nano-silver fluoride achieved higher individual-level caries arrestment than SDF (OR 0.39 favoring the comparator; ungraded subgroup).

1 finding from 1 review

Silver diamine fluoride (SDF) vs Other methods (pooled: ART/glass ionomer cement, nano-silver fluoride, sodium fluoride varnish)

Caries arrestment at the tooth level · Children and adults with active dental caries (aged 1-50; mostly preschool/school children with primary dentition)

SDF probably results in a slight increase in tooth-level caries arrestment versus other methods (moderate certainty).

1 finding from 1 review

Silver diamine fluoride (SDF) vs placebo control

Caries arrestment at the individual (patient) level · Children and adults with active dental caries (aged 1-50; mostly preschool/school children with primary dentition)

Pooling two trials, SDF markedly increased individual-level caries arrestment versus placebo (OR 18.10; ungraded subgroup).

1 finding from 1 review

Silver diamine fluoride (SDF) vs Other methods (pooled: nano-silver fluoride, sodium fluoride varnish)

Caries arrestment at the surface level · Children and adults with active dental caries (aged 1-50; mostly preschool/school children with primary dentition)

SDF probably makes little to no difference to surface-level caries arrestment versus other methods (moderate certainty).

1 finding from 1 review

Silver diamine fluoride (SDF) vs Nano-silver fluoride (NSF; with or without green tea extract)

Caries arrestment at the tooth level · Children and adults with active dental caries (aged 1-50; mostly preschool/school children with primary dentition)

Pooling two trials, SDF and nano-silver fluoride showed no significant difference in tooth-level caries arrestment (OR 1.47; ungraded subgroup).

1 finding from 1 review

Silver diamine fluoride (SDF) vs Atraumatic restorative treatment (ART) with glass ionomer cement (GIC) or glass ionomer material

Caries arrestment at the tooth level · Children and adults with active dental caries (aged 1-50; mostly preschool/school children with primary dentition)

Pooling two trials, SDF and ART/glass ionomer cement showed no clear difference in tooth-level caries arrestment (OR 1.22, wide CI; ungraded subgroup).

1 finding from 1 review

38% silver diamine fluoride vs Atraumatic restorative treatment (ART)

Caries/restoration status in permanent molars · Children with dental caries in permanent (first) molars

SDF gave significantly better caries/restoration outcomes than ART over 9 months in children's permanent molars (p=0.004; ungraded).

1 finding from 1 review

Sodium fluoride (5% NaF, one-time [Mauro] or every 6 months [Liu]) vs Control (water or unspecified)

New coronal caries in permanent molars (caries prevention) · Children with dental caries in permanent (first) molars

NaF gave a 48% prevented fraction (fissure site) vs water (p<0.002; ungraded).

3 findings from 1 review

Atraumatic restorative treatment (ART) sealant (one-time) vs no treatment

New coronal caries in permanent first molars (caries prevention) · Children with dental caries in permanent (first) molars

ART within a brushing programme significantly reduced caries vs control (p<0.01; ungraded).

2 findings from 1 review

2.26% ammonium bifluoride (one-time) vs Control (details reported as unavailable)

New coronal caries in permanent first molars (caries prevention) · Children with dental caries in permanent (first) molars

One-time ammonium bifluoride gave a 56% prevented fraction, similar to SDF (57%) (single study; ungraded).

1 finding from 1 review

38% SDF (one-time application) vs inactive control

New coronal carious lesions or fillings on permanent (first) molars (caries prevention) · Children with dental caries in permanent (first) molars

One-time SDF within a brushing programme did not significantly reduce caries vs control (p>0.05; ungraded).

2 findings from 1 review

Resin sealant (one-time) vs Control (water)

New coronal caries in permanent molars (caries prevention) · Children with dental caries in permanent (first) molars

Resin sealant gave a 65% prevented fraction (fissure site) vs water, the highest fissure-site value (p<0.002; ungraded).

2 findings from 1 review

38% SDF (one-time application) vs Information unavailable

New coronal carious lesions or fillings on permanent (first) molars (caries prevention) · Children with dental caries in permanent (first) molars

One-time 38% SDF gave a 57% prevented fraction for caries in children's permanent first molars (single study; ungraded).

1 finding from 1 review

Fluoride toothpaste vs Not applicable (single-group prevalence)

Fluoride toothpaste use prevalence (among children with caries) · Children with dental caries (deciduous and/or permanent dentition) in low- and middle-income countries

About 39% of children with caries in LMICs used fluoride toothpaste (pooled prevalence 0.391, 95% CI 0.166 to 0.644; 2 studies; not GRADE-rated).

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

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

Development of >=1 new carious lesion (caries incidence) · Children with caries-free primary first molars (with or without caries on other teeth), aged 1-5 years (paediatric clinic/dental school,…

Glass ionomer-based sealant may leads to lower development of >=1 new carious lesion (caries incidence) compared with no sealant (low certainty).

2 findings from 1 review

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

Mean caries increment (mean number of new cavitated occlusal lesions) · Children with caries-free or non-cavitated carious lesion primary molars, aged 3-7 years (paediatric department, dental hospital, France)
1 finding from 1 review
  • Sealants for preventing dental caries in primary teeth 2022 · Cochrane All outcomes
    24 months
    Mean number of new cavitated occlusal lesions 0.23 (SD 0.06) in sealed molars vs 0.29 (SD 0.06) in control molars (Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-rank test P = 0.42)
    1 study · 85 participants
    GRADE not reported

Caregiver help with child tooth brushing vs Not applicable (single-group prevalence)

Caregiver help with tooth brushing prevalence (among children with caries) · Children with dental caries (deciduous and/or permanent dentition) in low- and middle-income countries

About 54% of children with caries in LMICs received caregiver help with tooth brushing (pooled prevalence 0.541, 95% CI 0.266 to 0.803; 3 studies; not GRADE-rated).

1 finding from 1 review

Female sex vs Not applicable (single-group prevalence)

Female sex prevalence (among children with caries) · Children with dental caries (deciduous and/or permanent dentition) in low- and middle-income countries

Among children with caries in LMICs, about half were female (pooled prevalence 0.497, 95% CI 0.475 to 0.519; 6 studies; I2=0%; not GRADE-rated).

1 finding from 1 review

Sugary drinks/sweets consumption vs Not applicable (single-group prevalence)

Sugary drinks/sweets consumption prevalence (among children with caries) · Children with dental caries (deciduous and/or permanent dentition) in low- and middle-income countries

About 70% of children with caries in LMICs consumed sugary drinks/sweets (pooled prevalence 0.697, 95% CI 0.478 to 0.877; 7 studies; very high heterogeneity; not GRADE-rated).

1 finding from 1 review