What do systematic reviews say?

Vegetarian diet (any diet excluding all meat, poultry and fish) vs Nonvegetarian diet

Among adults and excluding the outlier study, vegetarian diet was associated with higher odds of dental erosion with no heterogeneity (OR 2.56, 95% CI 1.77 to 3.71; ungraded).

• Vegetarian diet and its possible influence on dental health: A systematic literature review. 2020 All outcomes

  Multiple countries (mostly India; also Finland and other European countries, Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago); community and clinical settings · Adults only, excluding Linkosalo & Markkanen 1985
  OR 2.56 [1.77, 3.71]
  4 studies
  GRADE not reported
• Vegetarian diet and its possible influence on dental health: A systematic literature review. 2020 All outcomes

  Multiple countries (mostly India; also Finland and other European countries, Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago); community and clinical settings · Sensitivity analysis excluding Linkosalo & Markkanen 1985 (outlier)
  OR 1.97 [1.19, 3.27]
  5 studies
  GRADE not reported
• Vegetarian diet and its possible influence on dental health: A systematic literature review. 2020 All outcomes

  Multiple countries (mostly India; also Finland and other European countries, Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago); community and clinical settings
  OR 2.40 [1.24, 4.66]
  6 studies
  GRADE not reported

Vegetarian diet (any diet excluding all meat, poultry and fish) vs Nonvegetarian diet

Beyond dental erosion, vegetarians tended to have a higher prevalence of other NCCL and tooth wear than nonvegetarians, reported narratively (ungraded).

• Vegetarian diet and its possible influence on dental health: A systematic literature review. 2020 All outcomes

  Multiple countries (mostly India; also Finland and other European countries, Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago); community and clinical settings
  Eleven studies reported on NCCL using six definitions (presence of NCCL, presence of dental erosion, presence and severity of tooth wear, dental abrasion, cervical buccal defects); the six reporting presence of dental…
  Studies not reported
  GRADE not reported

Vegetarian diet (any diet excluding all meat, poultry and fish) vs Nonvegetarian diet

Evidence on the number of natural teeth was conflicting and could not be pooled (ungraded).

• Vegetarian diet and its possible influence on dental health: A systematic literature review. 2020 All outcomes

  Multiple countries (mostly India; also Finland and other European countries, Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago); community and clinical settings
  Seven studies reported on the number of teeth with conflicting findings; meta-analysis was not possible due to inconsistent outcome definitions. One study found vegetarians had significantly more teeth; two found no…
  7 studies
  GRADE not reported

Vegetarian diet (any diet excluding all meat, poultry and fish) vs Nonvegetarian diet

Among adults, the lower DMFT score in vegetarians was smaller and not statistically significant (mean difference -0.09, 95% CI -0.32 to 0.13; ungraded).

• Vegetarian diet and its possible influence on dental health: A systematic literature review. 2020 All outcomes

  Multiple countries (mostly India; also Finland and other European countries, Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago); community and clinical settings · Adults only
  MD -0.09 [-0.32, 0.13]
  3 studies
  GRADE not reported
• Vegetarian diet and its possible influence on dental health: A systematic literature review. 2020 All outcomes

  Multiple countries (mostly India; also Finland and other European countries, Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago); community and clinical settings
  MD -0.15 [-0.29, -0.02]
  4 studies
  GRADE not reported

Vegetarian diet (any diet excluding all meat, poultry and fish) vs Nonvegetarian diet

Evidence on other dental-caries measures was inconsistent: some indices (decayed surfaces/teeth, root caries, white spots) were higher in vegetarians while some studies found lower caries in vegetarian children (ungraded).

• Vegetarian diet and its possible influence on dental health: A systematic literature review. 2020 All outcomes

  Multiple countries (mostly India; also Finland and other European countries, Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago); community and clinical settings
  Eleven studies reported dental caries using 11 definitions; four (DMFT) were meta-analysed (see O2). Narrative findings were inconsistent: DMFS results were mixed; decayed surfaces and decayed teeth and percentages of…
  Studies not reported
  GRADE not reported

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

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).

• Does Early Childhood Caries Increase Caries Development among School Children and Adolescents? A Systematic Review and… 2022 All outcomes

  Cohort studies (Sweden, USA)
  Two studies reported associations; frequent sweet consumption and lower toothbrushing frequency in early childhood were associated with higher caries prevalence/severity in adolescence, but these behaviours were not…
  2 studies
  GRADE not reported

Primary school-based behavioural intervention (both oral hygiene and dietary components) vs No treatment (or delayed treatment)

Primary school-based behavioural intervention (both oral hygiene and… showed no clear difference in plaque indices (permanent and deciduous teeth) compared with no intervention or delayed intervention (non-intervention control;… (low certainty).

• Primary school‐based behavioural interventions for preventing caries 2013 · Cochrane All outcomes

  3 to 15 months
  SoF (Plaque indices, follow-up 3 to 15 months): 'All 3 RCTs showed a reduction in plaque in the intervention group compared to control group'; 827 participants (3 RCTs); GRADE low; comment 'Data not suitable for…
  3 studies · 827 participants
  Low

Primary school-based behavioural intervention (both oral hygiene and dietary components) vs No treatment (or delayed treatment)

• Primary school‐based behavioural interventions for preventing caries 2013 · Cochrane All outcomes

  15 months
  PF 0.65 [0.12, 1.18]
  1 study · 60 participants
  Low

Primary school-based behavioural intervention (both oral hygiene and dietary components) vs No treatment (or delayed treatment)

• Primary school‐based behavioural interventions for preventing caries 2013 · Cochrane All outcomes
  Worthington 2001 reported changes in oral health knowledge and skills: improvement was apparent in both intervention and control groups at the 4-month follow-up (phase one) but greater in the intervention group (34%…
  1 study
  GRADE not reported

Primary school-based behavioural intervention (both oral hygiene and dietary components) vs No treatment (or delayed treatment)

• Primary school‐based behavioural interventions for preventing caries 2013 · Cochrane All outcomes
  Worthington 2001 found no change in reported dental visits over the course of the programmes, with 97% of children at baseline reporting visiting the dentist every 2 years.
  1 study
  GRADE not reported

Primary school-based behavioural intervention (both oral hygiene and dietary components) vs No treatment (or delayed treatment)

The review found no eligible studies for this question.

• Primary school‐based behavioural interventions for preventing caries 2013 · Cochrane All outcomes
  No other behavioural outcomes (e.g. objective toothbrush tracking or food-wrapper collection) were measured by the four included studies.
  0 studies
  No studies found

Primary school-based behavioural intervention (both oral hygiene and dietary components) vs No treatment (or delayed treatment)

The review found no eligible studies for this question.

• Primary school‐based behavioural interventions for preventing caries 2013 · Cochrane All outcomes
  No study reported any adverse events.
  0 studies
  No studies found

Primary school-based behavioural intervention (both oral hygiene and dietary components) vs No treatment (or delayed treatment)

• Primary school‐based behavioural interventions for preventing caries 2013 · Cochrane All outcomes

  2 years
  PF 0.49
  1 study
  GRADE not reported

Primary school-based behavioural intervention (both oral hygiene and dietary components) vs No treatment (or delayed treatment)

• Primary school‐based behavioural interventions for preventing caries 2013 · Cochrane All outcomes
  Worthington 2001: few children had problems identifying foods containing sugar; only 15% of intervention and 19% of control participants reported routinely consuming sugary snacks on arriving home from school; snacking…
  1 study
  GRADE not reported

Primary school-based behavioural intervention (both oral hygiene and dietary components) vs No treatment (or delayed treatment)

• Primary school‐based behavioural interventions for preventing caries 2013 · Cochrane All outcomes
  Worthington 2001 reported children's brushing frequency: almost all children (99%) at baseline reported twice daily brushing, and this level was maintained across all groups throughout the intervention (in baseline…
  1 study
  GRADE not reported

Dietary advice on how to achieve a healthy diet for infants (tailored advice focused on a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol intake) vs usual care

The review found no eligible studies for this question.

• Interventions with pregnant women, new mothers and other primary caregivers for preventing early childhood caries 2024 · Cochrane All outcomes
  dmfs was listed in the SoF table but not assessed (not reported for this comparison).
  0 studies
  No studies found
• Interventions with pregnant women, new mothers and other primary caregivers for preventing early childhood caries 2024 · Cochrane All outcomes
  dmft was listed in the SoF table but not assessed (not reported for this comparison).
  0 studies
  No studies found

Dietary advice on how to achieve a healthy diet for infants (tailored advice focused on a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol intake) vs usual care

• Interventions with pregnant women, new mothers and other primary caregivers for preventing early childhood caries 2024 · Cochrane All outcomes
  Data from Lapinleimu 1995 on mother oral health behaviour (other data) showed some evidence of benefit in favour of the intervention.
  1 study
  GRADE not reported

Dietary advice on how to achieve a healthy diet for infants (tailored advice focused on a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol intake) vs usual care

Dietary advice on how to achieve a healthy diet for infants… showed no clear difference in mother plaque (sub- and supragingival calculus) compared with standard care; GRADE not reported.

• Interventions with pregnant women, new mothers and other primary caregivers for preventing early childhood caries 2024 · Cochrane All outcomes
  RR 0.92 [0.62, 1.37]
  1 study · 133 participants
  GRADE not reported

Dietary advice on how to achieve a healthy diet for infants (tailored advice focused on a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol intake) vs usual care

Dietary advice on how to achieve a healthy diet for infants… showed no clear difference in mother gingival health (mild or moderate bone loss) compared with standard care; GRADE not reported.

• Interventions with pregnant women, new mothers and other primary caregivers for preventing early childhood caries 2024 · Cochrane All outcomes
  RR 1.43 [0.42, 4.85]
  1 study · 133 participants
  GRADE not reported

Dietary advice on how to achieve a healthy diet for infants (tailored advice focused on a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol intake) vs usual care

• Interventions with pregnant women, new mothers and other primary caregivers for preventing early childhood caries 2024 · Cochrane All outcomes
  Data on oral health behaviours from Lapinleimu 1995 (other data) showed no evidence of a difference between groups.
  1 study
  GRADE not reported