evidencegaps
Findings

What do systematic reviews say?

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

4,534 questions · 5,247 findings · 456 reviews

Sort:Best matchNewestHighest certaintyDownload CSV
No studies found 1,142 · 21.8%GRADE not reported 1,503 · 28.6%Very low 1,040 · 19.8%Low 869 · 16.6%Moderate 554 · 10.6%High 139 · 2.6%

Ranked among the 5,000 newest matching findings; add words or filters to narrow the search.

Glass carbomer restoration (placed after drilling) vs Composite resin or RMGIC

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

Glass carbomer had very high failure rates (up to 46.2%) in a single RCT, far worse than composite resin or RMGIC; low quality of evidence (ungraded).

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

Single-visit root canal treatment vs Multiple-visit root canal treatment (two or more visits)

Postobturation pain at 1 week · People aged 10 years or above requiring root canal treatment; permanent teeth with completely formed apex and without internal resorption

It is very uncertain whether single-visit root canal treatment changes postobturation pain at 1 week compared with multiple-visit root canal treatment (two or more visits) (very low certainty).

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

Traditional screening (referral card given if the inspecting dentist judges the child needs to see a dentist) vs No screening

Cost‐effectiveness · School children (aged 4 to 15 years), primary and secondary schools in the UK and India

The review found no eligible studies for this question.

1 finding from 1 review

Glass ionomer-based sealant vs Resin-based sealant

Adverse events · 'Healthy' children with caries-free second primary molars, aged 3-5 years (schools and kindergartens, India and China)
1 finding from 1 review
  • Sealants for preventing dental caries in primary teeth 2022 · Cochrane All outcomes
    1 study reported adverse events as some discomfort such as nausea; 1 child experienced a strong gag reflex following the glass ionomer-based sealant while 8 children reported feeling uncomfortable after the fluoride…
    1 study · 100 participants
    Very low

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

Resource implications (e.g. cost of incontinence management methods) · People with diabetes mellitus (type 1 or type 2, mostly type 2) and periodontitis, at least 16 years of age

The review found no eligible studies for this question.

1 finding from 1 review

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

Clinical attachment level (CAL) · 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 clinical attachment level (CAL) 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 rs74470773 (3:33958083; nearest gene(s) PDCD6IP) · 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 rs74470773 near PDCD6IP showed suggestive (not genome-wide significant) association with ECC (Z = -4.589, p = 4.46e-6); genetic association, ungraded.

1 finding from 1 review

Single-visit root canal treatment vs Multiple-visit root canal treatment (two or more visits)

Radiological failure (periapical radiolucency) after at least 1 year · People aged 10 years or above requiring root canal treatment; permanent teeth with completely formed apex and without internal resorption

Single-visit root canal treatment showed no clear difference in radiological failure (periapical radiolucency) after at least 1 year compared with multiple-visit root canal treatment (two or more visits) (moderate certainty).

1 finding from 1 review