What do systematic reviews say?

Visual screening (oral visual inspection) by trained health workers vs No screening

The review found no eligible studies for this question.

• Screening programmes for the early detection and prevention of oral cancer 2013 · Cochrane All outcomes

  15-year follow-up
  No harms were reported.
  0 studies
  No studies found

Screening for domestic violence vs Different screening tool

The review found no eligible studies for this question.

• Domestic violence screening and intervention programmes for adults with dental or facial injury 2010 · Cochrane All outcomes
  No eligible randomised controlled trials were identified. The update search retrieved an additional 2129 references; after de-duplication this left 1381 potentially eligible studies, and after examination of titles and…
  0 studies
  No studies found

Screening for domestic violence vs No screening

The review found no eligible studies for this question.

• Domestic violence screening and intervention programmes for adults with dental or facial injury 2010 · Cochrane All outcomes
  No eligible randomised controlled trials were identified. The update search retrieved an additional 2129 references; after de-duplication this left 1381 potentially eligible studies, and after examination of titles and…
  0 studies
  No studies found

Visual screening (oral visual inspection) by trained health workers vs No screening

Visual screening (oral visual inspection) by trained health workers showed no clear difference in oral cancer mortality (disease-specific) compared with no screening (low certainty).

• Screening programmes for the early detection and prevention of oral cancer 2013 · Cochrane All outcomes

  15-year follow-up
  RR 0.88 [0.69, 1.12]
  1 study · 191873 participants
  Low
• Screening programmes for the early detection and prevention of oral cancer 2013 · Cochrane All outcomes

  15-year follow-up · High-risk individuals (tobacco and/or alcohol users)
  RR 0.76 [0.60, 0.97]
  1 study
  GRADE not reported

Visual screening (oral visual inspection) by trained health workers vs No screening

• Screening programmes for the early detection and prevention of oral cancer 2013 · Cochrane All outcomes

  9 years (three cycles)
  The costs associated with the screening programme were reported after three cycles (nine years) (Subramanian 2009) (Additional Table 8). The benefit produced by a screen was 269.31 life-years saved per 100,000 for all…
  1 study
  GRADE not reported

Visual screening (oral visual inspection) by trained health workers vs No screening

Visual screening (oral visual inspection) by trained health workers showed no clear difference in oral cancer incidence compared with no screening; GRADE not reported.

• Screening programmes for the early detection and prevention of oral cancer 2013 · Cochrane All outcomes

  15-year follow-up
  RR 1.14 [0.91, 1.44]
  1 study · 191873 participants
  GRADE not reported
• Screening programmes for the early detection and prevention of oral cancer 2013 · Cochrane All outcomes

  15-year follow-up · High-risk individuals (tobacco and/or alcohol users)
  RR 0.97 [0.79, 1.19]
  1 study
  GRADE not reported

Visual screening (oral visual inspection) by trained health workers vs No screening

Visual screening (oral visual inspection) by trained health workers led to lower stage at diagnosis (early-stage detection) compared with no screening; GRADE not reported.

• Screening programmes for the early detection and prevention of oral cancer 2013 · Cochrane All outcomes

  15-year follow-up
  RR 0.81 [0.70, 0.93]
  1 study · 523 participants
  GRADE not reported
• Screening programmes for the early detection and prevention of oral cancer 2013 · Cochrane All outcomes

  15-year follow-up · High-risk individuals (tobacco and/or alcohol users)
  RR 0.82 [0.71, 0.95]
  1 study · 486 participants
  GRADE not reported

Visual screening (oral visual inspection) by trained health workers vs No screening

The review found no eligible studies for this question.

• Screening programmes for the early detection and prevention of oral cancer 2013 · Cochrane All outcomes

  15-year follow-up
  Data on quality of life were not reported.
  0 studies
  No studies found

Visual screening (oral visual inspection) by trained health workers vs No screening

• Screening programmes for the early detection and prevention of oral cancer 2013 · Cochrane All outcomes

  15-year follow-up
  Across the four cycles (15 years), the reported sensitivity of the visual examination in detecting oral cancer was 67.4% (188/279). No information on the specificity or the positive predictive value of the programme…
  1 study
  GRADE not reported

Visual screening (oral visual inspection) by trained health workers vs No screening

• Screening programmes for the early detection and prevention of oral cancer 2013 · Cochrane All outcomes

  5-year survival
  A significantly higher five-year survival rate was reported in the screened group (55.5%) compared to the control (43.4%) (P value = 0.003).
  1 study · 523 participants
  GRADE not reported

Criteria-based screening with specific (personalised) referral letter vs Criteria-based screening with non-specific referral letter

It is very uncertain whether criteria-based screening with specific (personalised) referral letter changes dental attendance at orthodontist compared with criteria-based screening with non-specific referral letter (very low certainty).

• School dental screening programmes for oral health 2022 · Cochrane All outcomes

  mean 8 months
  RR 1.90 [1.18, 3.06]
  1 study · 201 participants
  Very low

Criteria-based screening with specific (personalised) referral letter vs Criteria-based screening with non-specific referral letter

It is very uncertain whether criteria-based screening with specific (personalised) referral letter changes dental attendance at general dentist compared with criteria-based screening with non-specific referral letter (very low certainty).

• School dental screening programmes for oral health 2022 · Cochrane All outcomes

  mean 8 months
  RR 1.39 [1.09, 1.77]
  1 study · 201 participants
  Very low

Criteria-based screening (dentist refers using pre-established criteria) vs Traditional screening

It is very uncertain whether criteria-based screening (dentist refers using pre-established… changes dental attendance compared with traditional screening (very low certainty).

• School dental screening programmes for oral health 2022 · Cochrane All outcomes

  3 to 4 months
  RR 1.01 [0.94, 1.08]
  2 studies · 5316 participants
  Very low

Criteria-based screening (dentist refers using pre-established criteria) vs No screening

Criteria-based screening (dentist refers using pre-established… showed no clear difference in dental attendance compared with no screening (low certainty).

• School dental screening programmes for oral health 2022 · Cochrane All outcomes

  3 to 4 months
  RR 1.07 [0.99, 1.16]
  2 studies · 4980 participants
  Low

Traditional screening with motivation (oral health education and offer of free treatment) vs Traditional screening

It is very uncertain whether traditional screening with motivation (oral health education and… changes dental attendance compared with traditional screening alone (very low certainty).

• School dental screening programmes for oral health 2022 · Cochrane All outcomes

  mean 3 months
  RR 3.08 [2.57, 3.71]
  1 study · 2486 participants
  Very low

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

The review found no eligible studies for this question.

• School dental screening programmes for oral health 2022 · Cochrane All outcomes
  Proportion of children with treated/untreated caries: Not reported (Summary of findings 1).
  0 studies
  No studies found

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

The review found no eligible studies for this question.

• School dental screening programmes for oral health 2022 · Cochrane All outcomes
  No studies measured developmental defects of enamel (by any validated index).
  0 studies
  No studies found

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

• School dental screening programmes for oral health 2022 · Cochrane All outcomes
  Milsom 2006 reported the prevalence of trauma to the permanent incisor teeth as a dichotomous outcome (reduction from baseline yes/no); we were unable to include this data in a meta-analysis.
  1 study
  GRADE not reported

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

• School dental screening programmes for oral health 2022 · Cochrane All outcomes

  3 to 4 months
  Data not pooled; 6281 participants (4 RCTs); Very low. There was substantial heterogeneity, in part due to study design (3 cluster-RCTs and 1 individually randomised trial). We are unable to draw conclusions about this…
  4 studies · 6281 participants
  Very low

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

The review found no eligible studies for this question.

• School dental screening programmes for oral health 2022 · Cochrane All outcomes
  No studies measured gingivitis (by any validated index).
  0 studies
  No studies found