Non-Cochrane · aetiology · PM36294037
Does Early Childhood Caries Increase Caries Development among School Children and Adolescents? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Lam Phoebe Pui Ying, Chua Helene, Ekambaram Manikandan, et al. · International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022 · PubMed · doi:10.3390/ijerph192013459
Full textEvery question was extracted from the full text, figures and supplements by two independent LLM extractors, disagreements adjudicated. Rows cite where in the review the value comes from.
Questions
11
current version
GRADE rated
2
No studies
0
Included studies
10
linked below
No studies 0 · 0%Ungraded 9 · 81.8%Very low 1 · 9.1%Low 1 · 9.1%Moderate 0 · 0%High 0 · 0%
Ungraded means an effect was reported without a GRADE rating; it is not a gap. No studies means the review found nothing to answer the question. The six categories are a display order, not a score.
Review question
| Element | Planned (methods) | Found (results) |
|---|---|---|
| Population | School children and adolescents (6-18 years) with mixed or permanent dentition, examined at least once at a baseline below 72 months of age; children with disabilities or outside the age range excluded | School children and adolescents; 7580 children at baseline (1.5-5 years old with primary dentition), followed to 6-14 years; 6786 subjects at follow-up (n=10 studies) |
| Intervention | Early childhood caries (caries in primary dentition) and other potential risk factors (parental socioeconomic position, dietary and oral health behavioural habits, other oral conditions) | Early childhood caries; caries depth/severity; caries location; gender; sociodemographic factors; oral hygiene/dietary habits; bacterial load (n=10 studies) |
| Comparison | Absence of the exposure (e.g., caries-free primary dentition / reference category) | Caries-free primary dentition / reference category |
| Outcomes | Primary: increment of caries in permanent teeth (DMFT/DMFS index or ICDAS scores); Secondary: proportion of children developing new caries in permanent dentition | Caries in permanent teeth (OR, RR, DMFT/DMFS); pooled for past caries experience (3 studies) and gender (2 studies) |
| Study designs | Prospective and retrospective cohort or case-control studies with at least 24 months of follow-up | 10 cohort studies (9 prospective, 1 retrospective) |
| Timing | At least 24 months of follow-up | Follow-up 3 to 12 years |
Search date: Inception to 28 July 2022 (grey literature accessed 14 September 2022). Databases: PubMed, Ovid Medline, Ovid Embase, Web of Science (grey literature: OpenGrey, Google Scholar; reference lists hand-searched)
Questions and results
Early childhood caries (caries present in primary dentition) vs No caries in primary dentition (caries-free)
Population: School children and adolescents (6-18 years) followed from primary dentition (baseline examination before 72 months of age)
| Outcome | Effect | Evidence | Status / GRADE |
|---|---|---|---|
Caries development in permanent teeth At least 24 months follow-up (3-12 years) 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). Source: Figure 3 (forest plot); Table 2 (GRADE SoF); Results 3.4.1; Abstract · same question in other reviews | OR 3.22 [2.80, 3.71] | 3 studies · 5080 participants | Very low Downgraded: risk of bias, inconsistency |
Male sex (boys) vs Female sex (girls)
Population: School children and adolescents (6-18 years) followed from primary dentition (baseline examination before 72 months of age)
| Outcome | Effect | Evidence | Status / GRADE |
|---|---|---|---|
Caries development in permanent teeth At least 24 months follow-up · Gender (boys vs girls) Gender is not associated with caries development in permanent teeth (OR 0.86, 95% CI 0.71 to 1.02; low certainty). Source: Figure 4 (forest plot); Table 2 (GRADE SoF); Results 3.4.4, 3.5 · same question in other reviews | OR 0.86 [0.71, 1.02] | 2 studies · 2045 participants | Low |
Dentinal caries in primary dentition (at 5 years) vs Caries-free primary dentition
Population: School children and adolescents (6-18 years) followed from primary dentition (baseline examination before 72 months of age)
| Outcome | Effect | Evidence | Status / GRADE |
|---|---|---|---|
Dentinal caries in permanent (newly erupted) teeth 7-year follow-up · Dentinal caries in primary dentition Dentinal caries in the primary dentition is associated with about 3.2 times higher odds of dentinal caries in permanent teeth (single study; not GRADE-rated). Source: Results 3.4.2 · same question in other reviews | OR 3.2 [2.6, 3.9] | 1 study · 3282 participants | Ungraded |
Dentinal caries in permanent (newly erupted) teeth 7-year follow-up · Enamel caries in primary dentition Enamel caries in the primary dentition is associated with about 1.6 times higher odds of dentinal caries in permanent teeth (single study; not GRADE-rated). Source: Results 3.4.2 · same question in other reviews | OR 1.6 [1.2, 2.0] | 1 study · 3282 participants | Ungraded |
Primary dentition DMFT score 1-3 vs No caries in primary teeth (DMFT = 0)
Population: School children and adolescents (6-18 years) followed from primary dentition (baseline examination before 72 months of age)
| Outcome | Effect | Evidence | Status / GRADE |
|---|---|---|---|
Caries prevalence in permanent dentition 7-year follow-up · Primary DMFT 1-3 A primary-dentition DMFT of 1-3 is associated with 1.5 times higher risk of caries in permanent teeth (single study; not GRADE-rated). Source: Results 3.4.2 · same question in other reviews | RR 1.5 [1.3, 1.8] | 1 study · 1683 participants | Ungraded |
Caries prevalence in permanent dentition 7-year follow-up · Primary DMFT over 13 A primary-dentition DMFT over 13 is associated with about 15 times higher risk of caries in permanent teeth (single study; not GRADE-rated). Source: Results 3.4.2 · same question in other reviews | RR 15.2 [7.5, 30.8] | 1 study · 1683 participants | Ungraded |
Caries in first and second primary molars vs Reference (other primary tooth locations / caries-free)
Population: School children and adolescents (6-18 years) followed from primary dentition (baseline examination before 72 months of age)
| Outcome | Effect | Evidence | Status / GRADE |
|---|---|---|---|
Caries development in permanent teeth 8-year follow-up · First and second primary molars Caries in the first and second primary molars is the strongest tooth-specific predictor of caries in permanent teeth (RR 3.4; single study; not GRADE-rated). Source: Results 3.4.3 · same question in other reviews | RR 3.4 [1.8, 6.1] | 1 study · 362 participants | Ungraded |
Caries development in permanent teeth 8-year follow-up · Upper incisors Caries in upper primary incisors has the lowest tooth-specific predictive value for permanent-teeth caries (RR 1.6; single study; not GRADE-rated). Source: Results 3.4.3 · same question in other reviews | RR 1.6 [1.07, 2.45] | 1 study · 362 participants | Ungraded |
Sociodemographic / socioeconomic factors (single-parent family, low parental education, family income, socioeconomic status) vs Absence of the factor / reference socioeconomic category
Population: School children and adolescents (6-18 years) followed from primary dentition (baseline examination before 72 months of age)
| Outcome | Effect | Evidence | Status / GRADE |
|---|---|---|---|
Caries increment in permanent teeth Evidence on the association between sociodemographic/socioeconomic factors and permanent-teeth caries is weak and inconsistent (3 studies; could not be pooled; not GRADE-rated). Source: Results 3.4.5 · same question in other reviews | Inconsistent findings across studies; meta-analysis could not be performed as data could not be extracted. Single-parent family and low parental education were significant in one study (Saethre-Sundli 2020); higher… | 3 studies | Ungraded |
Unfavourable oral hygiene and dietary habits (frequent sweet/sugar consumption; low toothbrushing frequency in early childhood) vs Favourable oral hygiene and dietary habits
Population: School children and adolescents (6-18 years) followed from primary dentition (baseline examination before 72 months of age)
| Outcome | Effect | Evidence | Status / GRADE |
|---|---|---|---|
Caries development in permanent teeth 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). Source: Results 3.4.6 · same question in other reviews | 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 | Ungraded |
High Streptococcus mutans colonization in primary dentition (age 2-3 years) vs Lower Streptococcus mutans load
Population: School children and adolescents (6-18 years) followed from primary dentition (baseline examination before 72 months of age)
| Outcome | Effect | Evidence | Status / GRADE |
|---|---|---|---|
Caries (DMFT/DMFS) in mixed/permanent dentition Higher early Streptococcus mutans colonization is associated with more caries in the mixed/permanent dentition (2 studies; not pooled; not GRADE-rated). Source: Results 3.4.7 · same question in other reviews | Two studies found a significantly higher DMFT/DMFS score among school children aged 6-12 years who had a higher Streptococcus mutans load at 2-3 years old | 2 studies | Ungraded |
Included primary studies 10
Open as a trial list| Study | Also included by | Outcomes it informs here | Trial PICO | Results |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saethre-Sundli et al., 2020 Do enamel and dentine caries at 5 years of age predict caries development in newly erupted teeth? A prospective longitudinal study DOI:10.1080/00016357.2020.1739330 | 1 other review | Caries development in permanent teeth | not extracted yet | not extracted yet |
| Al-Shalan et al., 1997 matched by author and year (probable) | this review only | Caries development in permanent teeth | not extracted yet | not extracted yet |
| Alm et al., 2012 Caries in adolescence – influence from early childhood DOI:10.1111/j.1600-0528.2011.00647.x | this review only | not stated | not extracted yet | not extracted yet |
| Chankanka et al., 2011 Longitudinal associations between children's dental caries and risk factors. PMID:22320287 | this review only | not stated | not extracted yet | not extracted yet |
| Cortellazzi et al., 2013 DOI:10.3290/j.ohpd.a30480 | this review only | not stated | not extracted yet | not extracted yet |
| Du et al., 2017 Permanent caries experience is associated with primary caries experience: a 7‐year longitudinal study in China DOI:10.1111/cdoe.12257 | this review only | not stated | not extracted yet | not extracted yet |
| Li & Wang, 2002 Predicting Caries in Permanent Teeth from Caries in Primary Teeth: An Eight-year Cohort Study DOI:10.1177/154405910208100812 | this review only | Caries development in permanent teeth | not extracted yet | not extracted yet |
| Skeie et al., 2006 The relationship between caries in the primary dentition at 5 years of age and permanent dentition at 10 years of age – a longitudinal study DOI:10.1111/j.1365-263x.2006.00720.x | this review only | not stated | not extracted yet | not extracted yet |
| Straetemans et al., 1998 Colonization with Mutans Streptococci and Lactobacilli and the Caries Experience of Children after the Age of Five DOI:10.1177/00220345980770101301 | this review only | not stated | not extracted yet | not extracted yet |
| Thibodeau et al., 1999 Salivary mutans streptococci and caries development in the primary and mixed dentitions of children DOI:10.1111/j.1600-0528.1999.tb02039.x | this review only | not stated | not extracted yet | not extracted yet |
Overlap with other reviews
Reviews that include the same primary studies are not independent evidence. Shared counts match studies by PMID, DOI or NCT, and otherwise by author and year (a probable match).
| Review | Shared studies | Jaccard |
|---|---|---|
| Dental caries at enamel and dentine level among European adolescents - a systematic review and meta-analysis. (2022) | 1 | 0.03 |