Findings

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Evidence found and GRADE certainty

1,954 questions · 2,335 findings · 149 reviews · Oral Health

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%

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

Sociodemographic / socioeconomic factors (single-parent family, low parental education, family income, socioeconomic status) vs Absence of the factor / reference socioeconomic category

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

Evidence on the association between sociodemographic/socioeconomic factors and permanent-teeth caries is weak and inconsistent (3 studies; could not be pooled; not GRADE-rated).

1 finding from 1 review

High-viscosity glass-ionomer cement (HVGIC) restoration (conventional restorative approach) vs Compomer, composite resin, or another HVGIC

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

High-viscosity GIC had a wide annual failure rate (2.9-25.6%) and was outperformed by compomer/composite in some trials (3 RCTs); low quality of evidence (ungraded).

1 finding from 1 review

Hypnosis vs relaxation

Adverse events · People aged 12 years and over with painful TMD lasting 3 months or longer
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

Dental attendance · School children (aged 4 to 15 years), primary and secondary schools in the UK and India
1 finding from 1 review
  • School dental screening programmes for oral health 2022 · Cochrane All outcomes
    3 to 4 months
    Data not pooled; 6281 participants (4 RCTs); Very low. There was substantial heterogeneity, in part due to study design (3 cluster-RCTs and 1 individually randomised trial). We are unable to draw conclusions about this…
    4 studies · 6281 participants
    Very low

Not applicable (single-group prevalence) vs Not applicable

Caries experience (mean DMFT) · Children aged 12 years (plus or minus one year) in Africa

The pooled mean DMFT score was 1.0900 (95% CI 0.9143 to 1.2657); GRADE was not reported.

2 findings from 1 review

Common genetic variants genome-wide (GWAS; ~3.9 million SNPs with MAF > 5%) vs ECC-unaffected children (per-allele case-control association)

Early childhood caries (ECC) - association at lead SNP rs76823412 (8:134690570; nearest gene(s) ST3GAL1) · Children up to age 5-6 years (European / European non-Hispanic ancestry); 843 ECC-affected vs 2124 unaffected across 5 cohorts (N=2974)

The common variant rs8091366 near CHST9, KCTD1 showed suggestive (not genome-wide significant) association with ECC (Z = 4.476, p = 7.60e-6); genetic association, ungraded.

2 findings from 1 review

Silver diamine fluoride (SDF) vs placebo

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

SDF did not significantly differ from placebo for oral health-related quality of life in children (MD 0.03, 95% CI -0.16 to 0.22; ungraded).

1 finding from 1 review

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 at the surface level (dmfs/defs) · Children (mean age newborn to ~5.2 years) and their parents/carers

Oral-health-education-only interventions did not show a statistically significant effect on surface-level caries (dmfs SMD -0.20, 95% CI -0.43 to 0.03; 2 studies; not GRADE-rated).

1 finding from 1 review

Caries in first and second primary molars vs Reference (other primary tooth locations / caries-free)

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

Caries in the first and second primary molars is the strongest tooth-specific predictor of caries in permanent teeth (RR 3.4; single study; not GRADE-rated).

1 finding from 1 review

Periodontal treatment (subgingival instrumentation, with or without antimicrobials/surgery) vs usual care or no treatment

Quality of life indicators · People with diabetes mellitus (type 1 or type 2, mostly type 2) and periodontitis, at least 16 years of age
1 finding from 1 review

SDF applied biannually (every 6 months) vs Other non/minimally-invasive treatment (ART or 5% NaF varnish)

Caries arrest · Children (age 1-10 years) with active cavitated dentin caries lesions in primary molars

Biannual SDF application significantly arrested caries (pooled ES 0.39, 95% CI 0.19-0.60; ungraded).

1 finding from 1 review

Silver diamine fluoride (SDF) vs Atraumatic restorative treatment (ART)

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

SDF did not significantly differ from atraumatic restorative treatment for oral health-related quality of life (MD 0.02, 95% CI -0.32 to 0.36; ungraded).

1 finding from 1 review

Primary dentition DMFT score 1-3 vs No caries in primary teeth (DMFT = 0)

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

A primary-dentition DMFT of 1-3 is associated with 1.5 times higher risk of caries in permanent teeth (single study; not GRADE-rated).

1 finding from 1 review

Fluoride-releasing resin-based sealant vs Resin-based sealant

Retention of sealant (complete or partial retention) · Children with caries-free second primary molars, aged 4-8 years (dental clinic, Turkey and Spain)
1 finding from 1 review
  • Sealants for preventing dental caries in primary teeth 2022 · Cochrane All outcomes
    6-24 months
    Effect estimate not calculable; 69 (2 studies). Retention equivocal: Unal 2015 100% (fluoride resin) vs 96.0% (resin) at 12 months; Baca 2007 84.1% (fluoride resin) vs 97.7% (resin) at 12 months; at 24 months 87.8% vs…
    2 studies · 69 participants
    Very low

Periodontal treatment (subgingival instrumentation, with or without antimicrobials/surgery) vs usual care or no treatment

Plaque index (PI) / oral hygiene · People with diabetes mellitus (type 1 or type 2, mostly type 2) and periodontitis, at least 16 years of age

Periodontal treatment (subgingival instrumentation, with or without… led to lower plaque index (PI) / oral hygiene compared with no active intervention/usual care; GRADE not reported.

1 finding from 1 review

Common genetic variants genome-wide (GWAS; ~3.9 million SNPs with MAF > 5%) vs ECC-unaffected children (per-allele case-control association)

Early childhood caries (ECC) - association at lead SNP rs563135 (10:115067899; nearest gene(s) TCF7L2, CASP7) · Children up to age 5-6 years (European / European non-Hispanic ancestry); 843 ECC-affected vs 2124 unaffected across 5 cohorts (N=2974)

The common variant rs563135 near TCF7L2, CASP7 showed suggestive (not genome-wide significant) association with ECC (Z = -4.532, p = 5.86e-6); genetic association, ungraded.

1 finding from 1 review