Findings

What do systematic reviews say?

Refine by population, intervention, comparison or outcome
More filters
Evidence found and GRADE certainty

2,297 questions · 3,638 findings · 215 reviews · All outcomes

No studies found 98 · 2.7%GRADE not reported 2,946 · 81%Very low 263 · 7.2%Low 158 · 4.3%Moderate 137 · 3.8%High 36 · 1%

Pulpotomy with mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) 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

MTA had a significantly higher pulpotomy success rate than calcium hydroxide (indirect comparison; numeric estimate not available); ungraded.

1 finding from 1 review

Food and nonalcoholic beverage marketing (exposure) vs No, less, or less powerful food marketing

Diet-related noncommunicable diseases · Children and adolescents (general population, aged under 20 years)

No eligible studies were found.

1 finding from 1 review

Combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) vs Monotherapy or dual antiretroviral therapy

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

No significant difference in gingivitis between ART regimens (very low certainty).

1 finding from 1 review

Prior SDF application with a rinsing step vs No prior SDF application (untreated dentin control)

Immediate bond strength (MPa) · Dental adhesives bonded to caries-affected dentin (in vitro)

Prior SDF followed by a rinsing step significantly increases adhesive bond strength to caries-affected dentin (MD -4.79 MPa favoring SDF, 95% CI -9.19 to -0.40; ungraded).

1 finding from 1 review

Early childhood caries (ECC) vs Caries-free primary dentition

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

Early childhood caries increases the likelihood of caries in permanent teeth roughly three-fold, but the certainty of evidence is very low (OR 3.22, 95% CI 2.80 to 3.71).

1 finding from 1 review

Baby-Led Introduction to SolidS (BLISS) vs Other models of complementary feeding

Overweight/obesity risk · Healthy children aged 6–24 months in Western industrialized countries

BLISS did not show a statistically significant reduction in overweight/obesity risk at 24 months (low certainty).

1 finding from 1 review

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

Chronic herpes simplex infection prevalence · Children and adolescents (<18 years) living with HIV (CLWH)

No significant difference in chronic herpes simplex infection between CLWH with and without ART (very low certainty).

1 finding from 1 review

SDF applied once (single application, no re-application) vs Other non/minimally-invasive treatment (ART or silver-fluoride varnish)

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

A single (one-time) SDF application did not significantly arrest caries (pooled ES -0.09, 95% CI -0.48 to 0.29; ungraded).

1 finding from 1 review

Resin-based fissure sealant vs Fluoride varnish

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

Genetically predicted gene expression (TWAS; S-PrediXcan with GTEx v8 cis-eQTL across 49 tissues; cross-tissue S-MultiXcan) vs ECC-unaffected children (association of genetically predicted expression)

Early childhood caries (ECC) - association with genetically predicted expression of LINC02905 (C8orf49) (chr8p23.1) · Children up to age 5-6 years (European / European non-Hispanic ancestry); 843 ECC-affected vs 2124 unaffected across 5 cohorts (N=2974)

Genetically predicted LINC02905 (C8orf49) expression reached the TWAS threshold for ECC (p = 1.82e-8) but was flagged as a possible false positive (LD misspecification) and not further considered; ungraded.

1 finding from 1 review

Behaviour change / oral health promotion interventions delivered by non-dental professionals and health workers (nurses, midwives, health visitors, community health workers) vs control (no intervention/usual care/isotonic exercise)

Caries experience · Children (mean age newborn to ~5.2 years) and their parents/carers

Behaviour change interventions delivered by non-dental health workers produced a small-to-moderate, statistically significant reduction in caries experience at the tooth level (dmft SMD -0.34, 95% CI -0.54 to -0.13; 6 studies); the review judged the overall evidence to be of low quality (not GRADE-rated).

1 finding from 1 review

Silver diamine fluoride (SDF >=30%, i.e. 30% or 38%), applied annually or biannually vs No treatment or another non-invasive/minimally-invasive treatment (ART, sodium fluoride or silver-based varnish, or 12% SDF)

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

The pooled caries arrest rate with SDF (>=30%, applied annually/biannually) was 51.62% (622/1205 lesions arrested) at >=12 months follow-up.

1 finding from 1 review

High Streptococcus mutans colonization in primary dentition (age 2-3 years) vs Lower Streptococcus mutans load

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

Higher early Streptococcus mutans colonization is associated with more caries in the mixed/permanent dentition (2 studies; not pooled; not GRADE-rated).

1 finding from 1 review

Prior SDF application without a rinsing step vs No prior SDF application (untreated dentin control)

Immediate bond strength (MPa) · Dental adhesives bonded to caries-affected dentin (in vitro)

Only one study assessed SDF without a rinsing step on adhesive bonding to caries-affected dentin (Kucukyilmaz 2016, which reported impaired bond strength); no meta-analysis was possible, so no pooled estimate is available.

1 finding from 1 review

Combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) vs Monotherapy or dual antiretroviral therapy

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

cART was associated with a significantly lower prevalence of oral candidiasis than monotherapy or dual therapy (very low certainty).

1 finding from 1 review

Food marketing exposure or greater marketing power vs No, less, or less powerful food marketing

Food preference · Children and adolescents (general population, aged under 20 years)

In crossover studies with binary outcomes, food marketing increased food preference (OR 3.49, 95% CI 2.03 to 6.22; ungraded).

1 finding from 1 review

Unfavourable oral hygiene and dietary habits (frequent sweet/sugar consumption; low toothbrushing frequency in early childhood) vs Favourable oral hygiene and dietary habits

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

Early-childhood oral hygiene and dietary habits show inconsistent associations with permanent-teeth caries, often losing significance after adjustment for past caries (2 studies; not pooled; not GRADE-rated).

1 finding from 1 review