Evidence map›Paper›PMID 23879253›Full record

ArticleInternational dental journal2013

What happens to cavitated primary teeth over time? A 3.5-year prospective cohort study in China.

Xuan Hu, Xi Chen, Mingwen Fan, Jan Mulder, Jo E Frencken

Open access · greenAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in International dental journal, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
2.1field-weighted citation impact, top 15% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed, 15 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Trial
  2. Minimal intervention dentistry for treating primary teeth: a survey study among members of the Israeli Society of Paediatric Dentistry.European archives of paediatric dentistry : official journal of the European Academy of Paediatric Dentistry · 2025
    Article
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  4. Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Xuan HuSchool and Hospital of Stomatology, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.
Xi Chen
Mingwen Fan
Jan Mulder
Jo E Frencken
Wuhan University · CNRadboud University Nijmegen · NL

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesData showed that among 5-year-old Chinese, 96.7% of cavitated primary teeth were left untreated. The study aimed to report on the course of cavitated primary teeth within the Chinese health-care system over a period of 3.5 years.

methodsSelection of high caries risk children for inclusion in a sealant comparison study was based on the presence of cavitated dentine lesions in their primary teeth. At the 6-month sealant evaluation point many of these cavitated dentine lesions had not been treated. This necessitated monitoring these cavitated teeth 6-monthly for those exfoliated, restored, with a cavity left open, having caused toothache (symptom) and having (or having had) an abscess or fistulae (symptom). Care-seeking instruction was given at every evaluation point. anova and t-test were used in analysing the data.

resultsA total of 1012 cavitated primary teeth in 305 children (7.6 to 9.3 years old), were followed for 3.5 years. A total of 92.9% of cavitated primary teeth were left open, while 7.1% were restored at some stage during the observation period; 98.5% of restored teeth and 95.5% of cavitated teeth left open exfoliated and 93.9% of restored teeth and 81.5% of cavitated primary teeth left open exfoliated without any symptoms. Having (or having had) toothache was the symptom most frequently related to exfoliated restored teeth and to exfoliated cavitated teeth left open. Restored primary teeth survived statistically significantly longer than cavitated primary teeth left open: 1.99 ± 0.07 years and 1.68 ± 0.03 years, respectively.

conclusionThe large majority of cavitated primary teeth in this child population exfoliated without symptoms.

Indexed as

Analysis of VarianceChildChild, PreschoolChinaCohort StudiesDental CariesDental Restoration, PermanentDentinFollow-Up StudiesHumansPeriapical AbscessPit and Fissure SealantsProspective StudiesTime FactorsToothacheTooth, DeciduousPit and Fissure SealantsChinaexfoliationprimary teethrestorationstooth survivalUntreated cavities

Identifiers

PMID23879253
PMCPMC9375006
OpenAlexW2021991215

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.