Treatment success (caries lesion arrest or restoration survival) · Patients with deep carious lesions in permanent (mainly posterior) teeth
Minimally invasive caries removal showed a marginally higher mean restoration success rate than conventional removal (83.6% vs 75.4%), but the difference was not statistically significant (Mann-Whitney U, p > 0.05); certainty of evidence was not graded.
1 finding from 1 review
Mean success-rate percentage (unweighted study-level mean, 7 studies) MIT 83.6% vs CT 75.4% (Mann-Whitney U = 0.2, p > 0.05; not statistically significant)
7 studies · 1305 participants
GRADE not reported
Treatment failure (annual failure rate) · Children (aged 5-8 years) with Class-II caries in primary molars, no pulp therapy
Etching dentine for 7 s rather than 15 s lowered bulk-fill composite failure (5.8% vs 16.9% annual failure) in one RCT; low quality of evidence (ungraded).
1 finding from 1 review
Overall success (composite of clinical and radiographic success) · Adults aged 18 years or older with mature permanent teeth and carious pulp exposure
Partial pulpotomy with MTA or Biodentine had a pooled success rate of 86.8%.
1 finding from 1 review
Overall success (composite of clinical and radiographic success) · Adults aged 18 years or older with mature permanent teeth and carious pulp exposure
Partial pulpotomy with tri-calcium silicate cements (MTA/Biodentine) has a much higher success rate than with calcium hydroxide in adults (86.8% vs 34.3%; ungraded).
1 finding from 1 review
Dentin bridge formation · Patients with carious pulp exposure in permanent teeth undergoing partial pulpotomy
Evidence on dentin bridge formation for calcium hydroxide versus MTA is weak and imprecise, with no material shown superior (4 RCTs, not pooled; ungraded).
1 finding from 1 review
Overall success (composite of clinical and radiographic success) · Human permanent teeth with irreversible pulpitis due to carious pulp exposure
Biodentine had a significantly higher pulpotomy success rate than CEM (indirect comparison; numeric estimate not available); ungraded.
1 finding from 1 review
Overall success (composite of clinical and radiographic success) · Human permanent teeth with irreversible pulpitis due to carious pulp exposure
Biodentine had a significantly higher pulpotomy success rate than calcium hydroxide (indirect comparison; numeric estimate not available); ungraded.
1 finding from 1 review
Overall success (composite of clinical and radiographic success) · Human permanent teeth with irreversible pulpitis due to carious pulp exposure
Biodentine had a significantly higher pulpotomy success rate than MTA (indirect comparison; numeric estimate not available); ungraded.
1 finding from 1 review
MMP-8 expression/activity · Human carious dentin
MMP-8 may be increased before compared with after cavity sealing (very low certainty).
1 finding from 1 review
MMP-9 expression/activity · Human carious dentin
No difference in MMP-9 expression/activity was found before versus after cavity sealing (very low certainty).
1 finding from 1 review
Bacterial collagenolytic protease gene expression · Human ex vivo carious lesions / caries-associated biofilm
Genes encoding bacterial collagenolytic proteases were detected/overexpressed in coronal and root caries (ungraded; GRADE not feasible).
1 finding from 1 review
Genes coding for bacterial collagenolytic proteases were significantly expressed/overrepresented in coronal (Simon-Soro et al., 2013) and root (Dame-Teixeira et al., 2018: 42 proteases differentially expressed, 18…
2 studies · 25 participants
GRADE not reported
Bacterial collagenolytic enzymatic activity · Human ex vivo carious lesions / caries-associated biofilm
Bacterial collagenolytic enzymatic activity in caries biofilm is inconclusive across two small studies (ungraded; GRADE not feasible).
1 finding from 1 review
Results are inconclusive: protein-degrading bacteria isolated from root caries biofilm were capable of degrading collagen (Prevotella, Actinobaculum, Propionibacterium predominant; proportion 7% in root caries)…
2 studies · 9 participants
GRADE not reported
MMP-2 expression/activity · Human carious dentin
No difference in MMP-2 expression/activity was found before versus after cavity sealing (very low certainty).
1 finding from 1 review
Pulp exposure during caries removal · Children (3-11 years) with symptomless, vital dentine caries in primary molars
Stepwise excavation reduced the reported risk of pulp exposure by 69% versus complete caries removal (RR 0.31; ungraded).
1 finding from 1 review
RR 0.31 [0.17, 0.57]
262 participants
GRADE not reported
Caries arrest · Children with dentine carious lesions (ICDAS 4-5) in primary teeth
A second meta-analysis reported odds ratios of 2.44 to 3.63 favouring 38% SDF over fluoride varnish/water for caries arrest (ungraded).
2 findings from 1 review
OR (caries arrest) OR 2.44-3.63 (range); 2.44 = Chu estimate including 30% SDF
3 studies
GRADE not reported
Proportion (caries arrest) 81 [68, 89]
12 studies
GRADE not reported
Caries arrest · Children with dentine carious lesions (ICDAS 4-5) in primary teeth
Twice-yearly 38% SDF was reported to arrest more caries than once-yearly application (24-month rates 91% vs 79%; ungraded).
1 finding from 1 review
Overall success (composite of clinical and radiographic success) · Permanent teeth with carious pulp exposure
MTA and Biodentine have similar pulpotomy success (OR 0.89, not significant; low certainty).
1 finding from 1 review
Overall success (composite of clinical and radiographic success) · Patients with carious pulp exposure in permanent teeth undergoing DPC or pulpotomy
Biodentine appeared to perform better than calcium hydroxide for success, but the evidence was not pooled (2 RCTs; ungraded).
1 finding from 1 review
Discriminant power for caries severity: effect size (f) for microbial load (log10 CFU) between lesion categories · Patients with dentine carious lesions (deciduous/permanent teeth; children and adults)
The weighted effect size favoured hardness (f=2.62) over colour (f=0.46) for discriminating microbial load, supporting hardness as the more reliable examination (ungraded).
1 finding from 1 review
Discriminant power for caries severity: mean difference in log10 CFU (microbial load) between lesion categories · Patients with dentine carious lesions (deciduous/permanent teeth; children and adults)
For yellow-vs-other colour compared with soft-vs-harder hardness, hardness was significantly the more discriminant test (pooled WMD -3.87, 95% CI -4.46 to -2.87; ungraded).
6 findings from 1 review
WMD -3.867 [-4.461, -2.874]
2 studies
GRADE not reported
WMD -4.446 [-5.241, -3.650]
2 studies
GRADE not reported
WMD -0.067 [-1.877, 1.743]
2 studies
GRADE not reported
Show 3 more findings
Only one study (Beighton et al.) permitted this comparison: the mean log10 CFU difference was 2.32 for the colour contrast (black vs rest) versus 3.72 for the hardness contrast (soft vs medium/hard); hardness appeared…
1 study
GRADE not reported
WMD -4.741 [-4.979, -4.502]
2 studies
GRADE not reported
WMD -3.369 [-3.595, -3.143]
2 studies
GRADE not reported