Findings

What do systematic reviews say?

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Evidence found and GRADE certainty

2,066 questions · 3,346 findings · 178 reviews · Dental caries

No studies found 48 · 1.4%GRADE not reported 2,789 · 83.4%Very low 208 · 6.2%Low 129 · 3.9%Moderate 136 · 4.1%High 36 · 1.1%

Primary school-based interventions (one or more of: school health policy, oral health education, healthy school environment, access to oral health services, community involvement) vs usual practice

Annual increment in DMFS (D3) · Primary school children (aged 3-16 years) attending primary school in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs)

Oral-health-education interventions significantly reduced net increment in DMFS (SMD -1.05); no significant subgroup difference vs other interventions (P=0.74).

5 findings from 1 review
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Living with HIV and undergoing antiretroviral therapy (ART/HAART) vs Healthy HIV-negative controls

Recurrent oral ulcerations (WHO clinical stage 2) · Children or adolescents

CLWH on ART had significantly higher prevalence of recurrent oral ulcerations than healthy controls (pooled OR 6.83, 95% CI 1.18 to 39.53).

1 finding from 1 review

Caries distribution assessment (individual, tooth and surface levels) vs None (descriptive prevalence review; subgroup analyses by urban/rural status, country and year)

Caries distribution (individual/tooth/surface level) · European adolescents aged 12–19 years

Caries distribution was skewed at individual, tooth and surface levels and too heterogeneous to meta-analyze (narrative synthesis of 11 studies; not GRADE-rated).

1 finding from 1 review

Living with HIV and undergoing antiretroviral therapy (ART/HAART) vs Healthy HIV-negative controls

Periodontal disease (gingivitis/periodontitis) · Children or adolescents

CLWH on ART had significantly higher prevalence of periodontal disease than healthy controls (pooled OR 3.11, 95% CI 1.62 to 5.97; moderate heterogeneity).

1 finding from 1 review

Combined antiretroviral therapy (post-cART) vs Pre-cART (same children, before therapy)

Oral candidiasis prevalence · Children and adolescents (<18 years) living with HIV (CLWH)

Oral candidiasis prevalence fell significantly after cART compared with before cART in the same children (very low certainty).

1 finding from 1 review

Primary school-based interventions (one or more of: school health policy, oral health education, healthy school environment, access to oral health services, community involvement) vs usual practice

Dental caries prevalence measured by dmft or DMFT/S score greater than one · Primary school children (aged 3-16 years) attending primary school in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs)

School-based interventions may reduce the prevalence of dental caries (RR 0.70, favouring intervention), but the certainty of evidence is very low.

3 findings from 1 review

Pulpotomy with Biodentine vs Pulpotomy with calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2)

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

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

Cleft lip and/or palate (CL/P) vs No cleft lip and/or palate (non-CL/P)

Care index (CI = f/[d+m+f]) in the primary dentition · Children in the primary dentition with non-syndromic cleft lip and/or palate (CL/P) and comparable children without CL/P

The care index tended to be higher in children without CL/P (2 of 3 studies), suggesting more extraction-based caries management in children with CL/P; not pooled (narrative; ungraded).

1 finding from 1 review
  • Caries in children with and without orofacial clefting: A systematic review and meta-analysis. 2022 All outcomes
    Children with CL/P and comparable non-CL/P children across 12 countries (India, Brazil, China, Sweden, UK, USA, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands, Jordan, Thailand); studies published 1989-2021
    Two out of three studies for which the CI could be calculated (Nagappan 2019; Veiga 2016) showed a higher CI for non-CL/P children demonstrating a higher proportion of extraction-based treatment in CL/P children…
    3 studies
    GRADE not reported

Antiretroviral therapy (any, including cART) vs No antiretroviral medication (treatment-naive)

Parotid hypertrophy prevalence · Children and adolescents (<18 years) living with HIV (CLWH)

Parotid hypertrophy was significantly more prevalent in treatment-naive CLWH than in those on ART (very low certainty).

1 finding from 1 review

Baby-led weaning (BLW) vs Traditional complementary feeding (TCF)

Overweight/obesity risk · Healthy, term-born, normal-birth-weight infants aged 4-24 months (breastfed and/or formula-fed) in Western industrialized countries

Among observational studies, baby-led weaning was associated with lower odds of overweight/obesity than other feeding models (OR 0.37, 95% CI 0.25 to 0.55), but certainty is very low.

1 finding from 1 review

Placebo vs Silver diamine fluoride

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

The direct estimate found no statistically significant difference in oral health-related quality of life between placebo and silver diamine fluoride.

2 findings from 1 review

Antiretroviral therapy (any, including cART) vs No antiretroviral medication (treatment-naive)

Dental development and maturation · Children and adolescents (<18 years) living with HIV (CLWH)

A single small study suggested delayed dental development in CLWH on ART, but the evidence was insufficient to draw conclusions (very low certainty).

1 finding from 1 review

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

Baby-led weaning (BLW) vs Traditional complementary feeding (TCF)

Infant weight-length gain (achievement of adequate weight) · Healthy, term-born, normal-birth-weight infants aged 4-24 months (breastfed and/or formula-fed) in Western industrialized countries

Baby-led weaning/BLISS did not significantly influence infant weight-length (adequate weight) gain versus other complementary feeding models (pooled OR 1.36, 95% CI 0.18 to 10.51; ungraded).

1 finding from 1 review

Antiretroviral therapy (any, including cART) vs No antiretroviral medication (treatment-naive)

Oral hygiene · Children and adolescents (<18 years) living with HIV (CLWH)

Oral hygiene status did not differ significantly between CLWH with and without ART (very low certainty).

1 finding from 1 review