White spot lesion clinical score (mean values), subject level · Healthy adolescents and adults undergoing orthodontic treatment with fixed multi-bracket appliances
In a pooled analysis of two placebo-controlled trials, fluoride varnish also reduced white spot lesion clinical scores (pooled SMD -0.44, 95% CI -0.64 to -0.24); this secondary outcome was not separately GRADE-rated.
1 finding from 1 review
MMP-9 location/depth · Human ex vivo carious dentin
No clear direction of MMP-9 expression by lesion depth/location was found; the evidence is very uncertain (very low certainty).
1 finding from 1 review
Development of any (cavitated or non-cavitated) carious lesion · Children younger than 6 years with caries-free primary dentition (no cavitated or non-cavitated lesions at baseline)
Across the sample-based sensitivity analysis, mutans streptococci at baseline were associated with higher odds of developing caries.
1 finding from 1 review
DMFS (decayed, missing, filled surfaces) increment, occlusal surfaces · Schoolchildren aged 6-12 years with sound occlusal surfaces of the first permanent molars
Pit and fissure sealant and fluoride varnish showed no statistically significant difference in DMFS increment at 24 months (SMD -0.13, 95% CI -0.67 to 0.40; I2=92%; not GRADE-rated).
1 finding from 1 review
Mineral loss (transversal microradiography) · Enamel/dentin specimens with initial caries lesions (or sound surfaces) in intraoral (in situ) appliances worn by patients
Under remineralizing conditions, nHA produced significantly more remineralization than the negative control (MD 350, 95% CI 179 to 521; very low certainty).
2 findings from 1 review
Alpha diversity (Chao1, Observed, Shannon) · Adults providing oral (saliva/supragingival plaque) 16S rRNA microbiome samples
In adults, caries-vs-health alpha diversity differed for the Shannon index but not Chao1/Observed (ungraded).
1 finding from 1 review
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
Mean DMFT 1.0900 [0.9143, 1.2657]
Studies not reported
GRADE not reported
Mean DMFT 1.1444 [0.9780, 1.3108]
Studies not reported
GRADE not reported
Intervention not reported
Caries severity (mean DMFT)
1 finding from 1 review
Alpha diversity (Observed, Chao1, Shannon, and Simpson) · Participants in oral 16S rRNA caries microbiome studies
Across the combined sample set, alpha-diversity metrics were significantly higher in caries than in health, but no pooled effect estimate was reported.
1 finding from 1 review
Intervention not reported
Alpha diversity (study-level, caries vs health)
1 finding from 1 review
Alpha diversity (Shannon) · Children providing oral (saliva/supragingival plaque) 16S rRNA microbiome samples
In children, caries-vs-health Shannon alpha diversity differed significantly (ungraded).
1 finding from 1 review
Discrimination of caries vs health (random forest ROC-AUC) · Individuals providing oral (saliva/supragingival plaque) 16S rRNA microbiome samples; 2016 samples from 19 studies (mixed children and…
Microbiome-based random forest classifiers could not reliably discriminate caries from health across the combined cohort (best AUC approximately 0.75 in a disease-only KO subset; ungraded).
1 finding from 1 review
Caries lesion initiation/progression (ICDAS score, laser fluorescence/DIAGNOdent, photographic pixels, enamel acid resistance) · Patients (children and adults, age 3-40 years) with initial enamel caries lesions (non-orthodontic and orthodontic)
No meta-analysis was possible for the 5 in vivo RCTs (high heterogeneity); narratively nHA showed generally no significant difference versus fluoridated dentifrice, and the evidence was not graded (ungraded).
1 finding from 1 review
Efficacy of nano-hydroxyapatite on caries prevention-a systematic review and meta-analysis. 2022 All outcomesMedian follow-up 6 months (range 6-12 months) · In vivo (clinical); non-orthodontic and orthodontic patients
No meta-analysis was performed for the in vivo studies owing to high heterogeneity (population, control group, outcomes, follow-up periods, risk of bias) and differing statistical designs (e.g., non-inferiority);…
5 studies · 420 participants
GRADE not reported
KEGG pathway associations · Participants in oral 16S rRNA caries microbiome studies
Phosphonate and phosphinate metabolism and glyoxylate and dicarboxylate metabolism had the lowest reported adjusted P values (0.04); no pooled effect estimate was reported.
1 finding from 1 review
Mineral loss (transversal microradiography) · Enamel/dentin specimens with initial caries lesions (or sound surfaces) in intraoral (in situ) appliances worn by patients
Under demineralizing conditions, nHA allowed significantly more enamel demineralization than NaF (MD 1625, 95% CI 553 to 2697; very low certainty).
2 findings from 1 review
Beta diversity and community composition · Participants in oral 16S rRNA caries microbiome studies
Beta-diversity matrices showed statistically significant ADONIS results, while clustering by study and 16S region was also observed; no pooled effect estimate was reported.
1 finding from 1 review
Intervention not reported
Enamel acid resistance / initiation of new enamel caries lesions (in vivo, narrative)
1 finding from 1 review
External disease-state discrimination · Oral microbiome samples from four selected case-control studies
The KEGG Orthology classifier had an approximate AUC of 0.75 in the disease-only study test set.
1 finding from 1 review
AUC 0.75
4 studies
GRADE not reported
Caries incidence of first permanent molars (FPMs) · Schoolchildren aged 6-12 years with sound occlusal surfaces of the first permanent molars
Pit and fissure sealant and fluoride varnish showed no statistically significant difference in caries incidence of first permanent molars at 24 months (RR 0.65, 95% CI 0.31 to 1.38; I2=89%; not GRADE-rated).
1 finding from 1 review
Study-specific disease-state discrimination · Oral microbiome samples in 15 case-controlled studies
Bong-Soo 2017, Zhu 2018, and Jiang 2019 had mean AUC scores over 0.75; exact study-specific AUCs were not reported in text or readable figure labels.
1 finding from 1 review
no estimate extracted
15 studies
GRADE not reported