What do systematic reviews say?

One-to-one advice on sugar restriction: detailed information on the sugar content of foods, with instruction to refrain from sugar-containing foods between meals and to reduce sugar in main meals (6-week sugar restriction) vs No advice on sugar restriction

• One‐to‐one dietary interventions undertaken in a dental setting to change dietary behaviour 2012 · Cochrane All outcomes

  Follow-up at 3, 6 and 12 weeks
  Table 5, mean (SD) intakes/day between meals: intervention 6.7 (1.9) baseline, 0.8 (1.0) at 3 weeks, 0.9 (1.0) at 6 weeks, 5.6 (3.0) at 12 weeks; control 5.3 (2.3), 5.2 (2.9), 4.6 (3.5), 4.7 (1.5). Significant…
  1 study · 20 participants
  GRADE not reported

One-to-one advice on sugar restriction: detailed information on the sugar content of foods, with instruction to refrain from sugar-containing foods between meals and to reduce sugar in main meals (6-week sugar restriction) vs No advice on sugar restriction

• One‐to‐one dietary interventions undertaken in a dental setting to change dietary behaviour 2012 · Cochrane All outcomes

  Follow-up at 3, 6 and 12 weeks
  Table 5, mean (SD) intakes/day at main meals: intervention 2.8 (0.5) baseline, 0.7 (0.7) at 3 weeks, 0.8 (0.9) at 6 weeks, 2.3 (0.8) at 12 weeks; control 1.9 (1.1), 1.9 (1.2), 1.9 (1.1), 2.0 (0.9). Significant…
  1 study · 20 participants
  GRADE not reported

One-to-one advice on sugar restriction: detailed information on the sugar content of foods, with instruction to refrain from sugar-containing foods between meals and to reduce sugar in main meals (6-week sugar restriction) vs No advice on sugar restriction

• One‐to‐one dietary interventions undertaken in a dental setting to change dietary behaviour 2012 · Cochrane All outcomes

  Follow-up at 3, 6 and 12 weeks
  Table 5, total mean (SD) intakes/day: intervention 9.5 (1.9) baseline, 1.6 (1.4) at 3 weeks, 1.8 (1.5) at 6 weeks, 7.8 (3.5) at 12 weeks; control 7.2 (2.6), 7.1 (3.7), 6.5 (4.2), 6.7 (2.2). Significant reduction versus…
  1 study · 20 participants
  GRADE not reported

A 10-minute film followed by the same 30-minute one-to-one hygienist instruction on sugar consumption and dental health, plus oral hygiene, fluoride and regular visits (a multi-intervention) vs No special instructions (control)

• One‐to‐one dietary interventions undertaken in a dental setting to change dietary behaviour 2012 · Cochrane All outcomes

  6 to 12 months
  Table 3, mean (SD) sugar consumption (1-5 scale): film-plus-instruction group 3.53 (1.27) at baseline to 3.06 (1.12) at follow-up (significant versus baseline); control 2.89 (0.99) to 2.88 (1.27). Results judged…
  1 study
  GRADE not reported

30 minutes of one-to-one instruction by a dental hygienist covering the relationship between sugar consumption and dental health, plus oral hygiene, fluoride and regular dental visits (a multi-intervention) vs No special instructions (control)

• One‐to‐one dietary interventions undertaken in a dental setting to change dietary behaviour 2012 · Cochrane All outcomes

  6 to 12 months
  Table 3, mean (SD) sugar consumption (1-5 scale): instruction group 3.41 (1.50) at baseline to 3.58 (1.07) at follow-up (significant versus baseline); control 2.89 (0.99) to 2.88 (1.27). The review judges the results…
  1 study
  GRADE not reported

Advice about a healthy diet (including breastfeeding promotion and sugar avoidance) and feeding practices (e.g. relating to bottle-feeding and sleep) for infants and young children vs usual care

Advice about a healthy diet (including breastfeeding promotion and… showed no clear difference in dmfs index score (decayed, missing, filled primary surfaces; range… compared with standard care (low certainty).

• Interventions with pregnant women, new mothers and other primary caregivers for preventing early childhood caries 2024 · Cochrane All outcomes

  Children assessed at 1-3 yrs
  MD -0.29 [-0.58, 0]
  2 studies · 757 participants
  Low

Advice about a healthy diet (including breastfeeding promotion and sugar avoidance) and feeding practices (e.g. relating to bottle-feeding and sleep) for infants and young children vs usual care

Advice about a healthy diet (including breastfeeding promotion and… probably leads to lower caries presence in primary teeth compared with standard care (moderate certainty).

• Interventions with pregnant women, new mothers and other primary caregivers for preventing early childhood caries 2024 · Cochrane All outcomes

  Children assessed at 3-5 yrs
  RR 0.85 [0.75, 0.97]
  3 studies · 782 participants
  Moderate

Advice about a healthy diet (including breastfeeding promotion and sugar avoidance) and feeding practices (e.g. relating to bottle-feeding and sleep) for infants and young children vs usual care

Advice about a healthy diet (including breastfeeding promotion and… led to lower caries severity (d1 + mfs >= 5) 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

  Children assessed at 4 yrs
  RR 0.68 [0.50, 0.92]
  1 study · 340 participants
  GRADE not reported

Advice about a healthy diet (including breastfeeding promotion and sugar avoidance) and feeding practices (e.g. relating to bottle-feeding and sleep) for infants and young children vs usual care

• Interventions with pregnant women, new mothers and other primary caregivers for preventing early childhood caries 2024 · Cochrane All outcomes
  One trial (Watt 2009) reported mother self-reported oral health behaviours (other data): some benefit in favour of the intervention.
  1 study
  GRADE not reported

Advice about a healthy diet (including breastfeeding promotion and sugar avoidance) and feeding practices (e.g. relating to bottle-feeding and sleep) for infants and young children vs usual care

It is very uncertain whether advice about a healthy diet (including breastfeeding promotion and… changes dmft index score (decayed, missing, filled primary teeth; range 0-20) compared with standard care (very low certainty).

• Interventions with pregnant women, new mothers and other primary caregivers for preventing early childhood caries 2024 · Cochrane All outcomes

  Children assessed at 4 yrs
  MD -0.90 [-1.85, 0.05]
  1 study · 340 participants
  Very low

Advice about a healthy diet (including breastfeeding promotion and sugar avoidance) and feeding practices (e.g. relating to bottle-feeding and sleep) for infants and young children vs usual care

• Interventions with pregnant women, new mothers and other primary caregivers for preventing early childhood caries 2024 · Cochrane All outcomes
  Two trials (Feldens 2007; Watt 2009) reported infant/child oral health behaviours; not suitable for meta-analysis. Both observed some evidence of benefit favouring the intervention.
  2 studies
  GRADE not reported

Advice about a healthy diet (including breastfeeding promotion and sugar avoidance) and feeding practices (e.g. relating to bottle-feeding and sleep) for infants and young children vs usual care

• Interventions with pregnant women, new mothers and other primary caregivers for preventing early childhood caries 2024 · Cochrane All outcomes
  One trial only (Feldens 2007) provided information on adverse events and reported no events.
  1 study
  GRADE not reported