Trial reportCommunity dentistry and oral epidemiology2011
Effect of health promotion and fluoride varnish on dental caries among Australian Aboriginal children: results from a community-randomized controlled trial.
Trial report in Community dentistry and oral epidemiology, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 51 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
51 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 147 citations in OpenAlex.
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Dental Program Evaluations: A Mixed-Methods Systematic Review.Community dentistry and oral epidemiology · 2025Pooled it
- Systematic Review of Intervention Studies Aiming at Reducing Inequality in Dental Caries among Children.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Pooled it
- Interventions to improve health literacy among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples: a systematic review.BMC public health · 2021Pooled it
- Dental Health Inequalities among Indigenous Populations: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Caries research · 2021Pooled it
- Fluoride varnishes for preventing dental caries in children and adolescents.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2013Pooled it
- Early Childhood Caries Intervention in Aboriginal Australian Children: A Cross-in Randomized Trial.JDR clinical and translational research · 2024Trial
- Motivational Interviewing and Childhood Caries: A Randomised Controlled Trial.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Trial
- Strategies to Support Sustained Participant Engagement in an Oral Health Promotion Study for Indigenous Children and Their Families in Australia.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Trial
- Trial
- Feasibility of training community health workers to conduct periodontal examinations: a validation study in rural Nepal.BMC health services research · 2020Trial
- Randomised clinical trial investigating self-assembling peptide PClinical oral investigations · 2020Trial
- Follow-up of Intervention to Prevent Dental Caries Among Indigenous Children in Australia: A Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2019Trial
- A Cluster-Randomized, Community-Based, Tribally Delivered Oral Health Promotion Trial in Navajo Head Start Children.Journal of dental research · 2016Trial
- Reducing disease burden and health inequalities arising from chronic disease among Indigenous children: an early childhood caries intervention.BMC public health · 2012Trial
- Economic evaluation on dental caries preventive interventions for Australian children using a priority-setting approach.The European journal of health economics : HEPAC : health economics in prevention and care · 2025Article
- Leadership, regulatory approaches and policy to re-orientate health services towards health promotion.Health promotion international · 2024Article
- The factors associated with the knowledge of brushing teeth with fluoridated toothpaste among high school students in Al-Madinah, Saudi Arabia.Frontiers in oral health · 2024Article
- A Silver Fluoride Intervention to Improve Oral Health Trajectories of Young Indigenous Australians: Protocol for a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR research protocols · 2023Article
- Exploring the Reported Strengths and Limitations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Research: A Narrative Review of Intervention Studies.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Review
- The Impact of Dental Care Programs on Individuals and Their Families: A Scoping Review.Dentistry journal · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesWe tested a dental health program in remote Aboriginal communities of Australia's Northern Territory, hypothesizing that it would reduce dental caries in preschool children.
methodsIn this 2-year, prospective, cluster-randomized, concurrent controlled, open trial of the dental health program compared to no such program, 30 communities were allocated at random to intervention and control groups. All residents aged 18-47 months were invited to participate. Twice per year for 2 years in the 15 intervention communities, fluoride varnish was applied to children's teeth, water consumption and daily tooth cleaning with toothpaste were advocated, dental health was promoted in community settings, and primary health care workers were trained in preventive dental care. Data from dental examinations at baseline and after 2 years were used to compute net dental caries increment per child (d₃mfs). A multi-level statistical model compared d₃mfs between intervention and control groups with adjustment for the clustered randomization design; four other models used additional variables for adjustment.
resultsAt baseline, 666 children were examined; 543 of them (82%) were re-examined 2 years later. The adjusted d₃mfs increment was significantly lower in the intervention group compared to the control group by an average of 3.0 surfaces per child (95% CI = 1.2, 4.9), a prevented fraction of 31%. Adjustment for additional variables yielded caries reductions ranging from 2.3 to 3.5 surfaces per child and prevented fractions of 24-36%.
conclusionsThese results corroborate findings from other studies where fluoride varnish was efficacious in preventing dental caries in young children.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.