Trial reportJournal of public health dentistry2018
Total observed caries experience: assessing the effectiveness of community-based caries prevention.
Trial report in Journal of public health dentistry, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Caries Progression Rates Revisited: A Systematic Review.Journal of dental research · 2019Pooled it
- Parental psychosocial factors and children's oral health-related quality of life: Data from a caries prevention study with phone-based support.BMC oral health · 2025Trial
- Development of quality measures to assess tooth decay outcomes from electronic health record data.Journal of public health dentistry · 2023Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesTo compare common measures for dental caries in longitudinal caries research in support of a new measure, the Total Observed Caries Experience (TOCE).
methodsTOCE was calculated as the total number of decayed or filled teeth ever observed. TOCE was compared to dmft, DMFT, and the prevalence of untreated decay using data from a 4-year, cluster randomized community-based caries prevention program. Outcomes were analyzed using generalized estimating equations and assessed change over time and effects across treatment groups.
resultsFor TOCE and DMFT, the risk of caries over time increased. In contrast, risks decreased for dmft and the prevalence of untreated decay, driven largely by decayed primary teeth being exfoliated. Effects across treatment groups showed increased risk for some outcomes and attenuated risks in others; however, treatment effects for TOCE were more in line with expected results when compared with controls.
conclusionsTOCE accounts for caries on primary and permanent dentition and is not subject to bias due to exfoliation. It can be used as a robust measure to evaluate community-based caries prevention programs.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.