MMP-2 location/presence · Human carious dentin
No effect direction was found for MMP-2 by lesion depth or location (very low certainty).
1 finding from 1 review
no estimate extracted
4 studies
Very low
MMP-8 location/presence · Human carious dentin
Evidence on MMP-8 by lesion depth or location was very low certainty.
1 finding from 1 review
Dental caries · School children in Dubai governmental schools
Mean DMFT was 2.66 in low socioeconomic-class schools versus 2.10 in high-class schools.
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
Oral health-related quality of life · people aged 60 years and older living in the community
No statistically significant difference in OHRQoL was reported by periodontal-disease prevalence.
1 finding from 1 review
Restoration failure · Children with carious primary teeth
No comparative effect estimate was reported; both arms had 0% failure.
1 finding from 1 review
HIV-related oral lesions · Children living with HIV receiving ART
One reported study did not show a clear difference in HIV-related oral lesions for children with CD4+ T-cell counts below 250 cells/mm3.
2 findings from 1 review
OR 1.916 [0.613, 2.513]
1 study
GRADE not reported
OR 1.999 [0.129, 3.688]
1 study
GRADE not reported
Early childhood caries (ECC) · Healthy children under 6 years in South Africa
No significant difference in caries odds was found between children of low- versus high-SES parents (meta-analysis reported no difference; pooled estimate in an unavailable supplementary figure; not GRADE-rated).
1 finding from 1 review
Dental caries · Healthy children and adolescents in the United Arab Emirates
Evidence on socioeconomic status/income and caries was inconsistent: some studies linked lower income to higher caries while others found no association (narrative synthesis; not GRADE-rated).
1 finding from 1 review
Findings were contradictory. Hashim et al. found children from low-income families had higher odds of severe early childhood caries (OR 1.43, 95% CI 1.11-1.85), and Ahmad et al. reported significantly higher DMFT in…
Studies not reported
GRADE not reported
Early childhood caries (ECC) · Healthy children under 6 years of age (6 months to 6 years); preschool children
After excluding an extreme outlier (Alhabdan 2018), the association between low brushing frequency and ECC remained statistically significant (pooled OR approximately 2.0, p=0.003; I2=87.5%); the exact estimate and its CI were not reported; ungraded.
2 findings from 1 review
Dental caries · Healthy children and adolescents in the United Arab Emirates
The association between parental education and caries was inconsistent; father's (but not consistently mother's) education was inversely associated with caries in some studies (narrative synthesis; not GRADE-rated).
1 finding from 1 review
Maternal education was not associated with children's caries in the Hashim et al. studies, whereas father's educational level was negatively associated with DMFT in Khadri et al. (secondary-aged children: -0.35, 95% CI…
Studies not reported
GRADE not reported
Poor oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) · Children aged 3-12 years
Lower maternal education was associated with poor OHRQoL (OR 1.12, 95% CI 1.00-1.23; 4 studies; high heterogeneity; CI lower bound at the null; ungraded).
1 finding from 1 review
OR 1.12 [1.00, 1.23]
4 studies
GRADE not reported
White spot lesion incidence · High caries-risk patients: fixed-orthodontic-appliance patients and children with partially erupted permanent molars
Low-power CO2 laser (LLLT) is associated with a lower incidence of new white spot lesions than placebo (OR 0.21, CI 0.15 to 0.30; ungraded, 3 RCTs, considerable heterogeneity I2=71%).
1 finding from 1 review
Dental caries · Adult participants in 25 meta-regression studies
The unadjusted meta-regression coefficient for low schooling was -2.301079.
2 findings from 1 review
Dental caries · Adult participants in 25 meta-regression studies
The unadjusted meta-regression coefficient for low socioeconomic status was 10.49365.
2 findings from 1 review
White spot lesion formation (QLF: fluorescence loss, lesion area) · Orthodontic patients of any age with fixed braces (new DLs assessed at debond)
Indirect bonding with a flowable adhesive favored less QLF-measured demineralization, with certainty not graded.
1 finding from 1 review
The DB group exhibited significantly higher loss of fluorescence and degree of demineralization compared to the IB group between T0 and T1, with notable differences in specific quadrants (p <0.05 for ΔF and ΔF max).
1 study · 51 participants
GRADE not reported
total microbial load (log10 CFU) · humans with open primary dentine caries
In one study, hardness category differences exceeded color category differences; no meta-analysis was conducted.
1 finding from 1 review
Dental caries · Adult participants in 25 meta-regression studies
The Model 1 adjusted meta-regression coefficient for lower university education was -4.132903.
2 findings from 1 review
Dental caries · Children aged 12-15 years (adolescents)
In adolescents (12-15 y) from a low-contamination area, individual studies reported higher DMFT/dmft in exposed than non-exposed children; not pooled (ungraded).
2 findings from 1 review
Dental caries · Children aged 5-7 years (early school-age)
In early school-age children (5-7 y) from a low-contamination area, one study reported higher DMFT/dmft in exposed than non-exposed children; the estimate was not pooled (ungraded).
1 finding from 1 review