Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33947387›Full record

SynthesisBMC oral health2021

Determinants of dental caries in children in the Middle East and North Africa region: a systematic review based on literature published from 2000 to 2019.

Amal Elamin, Malin Garemo, Anzelle Mulder

Abstract readSystematic Review
In one paragraph

Synthesis in BMC oral health, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 64 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
64citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
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

64 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. Clinical effectiveness of diaphragmatic breathing for dental anxiety in 7- to 13-year-old children.European archives of paediatric dentistry : official journal of the European Academy of Paediatric Dentistry · 2026
    Trial
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Dental caries and PROP genetic taste predisposition in UAE 7-10 years old.European archives of paediatric dentistry : official journal of the European Academy of Paediatric Dentistry · 2026
    Article
  8. Early childhood caries and associated risk factors in tunis: a cross-sectional study.European archives of paediatric dentistry : official journal of the European Academy of Paediatric Dentistry · 2026
    Observational
  9. Examining the association between socioeconomic status, clinical assessment, and dental caries experience in oncology patients: a 5-year review of a tertiary-care hospital.European archives of paediatric dentistry : official journal of the European Academy of Paediatric Dentistry · 2026
    Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
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  16. Development and evaluation of an early childhood caries prediction model: a deep learning-based hybrid statistical modelling approach.European archives of paediatric dentistry : official journal of the European Academy of Paediatric Dentistry · 2025
    Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Article

4 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

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

3 authors.

Amal ElaminDepartment of Health Sciences, College of Natural and Health Sciences, Zayed University, P.O. Box 144534, Abu-Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. amal.elamin@zu.ac.ae.ORCID 0000-0002-4078-2049
Malin GaremoDepartment of Health Sciences, College of Natural and Health Sciences, Zayed University, P.O. Box 144534, Abu-Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Anzelle MulderDepartment of Health Sciences, College of Natural and Health Sciences, Zayed University, P.O. Box 144534, Abu-Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundDental caries risk factors have been expanded to not only emphasize biology, dietary and oral habits but also broader social determinants such as socioeconomic factors and the utilization of health services. The aim was to review sociobehavioural/cultural and socioeconomic determinants of dental caries in children residing in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

methodsA search was conducted in the PubMed/Medline database and Google Scholar to identify studies published from 2000 to 2019 covering children using key search terms. In the initial stages, titles, abstracts and, if needed, full articles were screened for eligibility. In the final stage, all included articles were reassessed and read, and relevant data were extracted.

resultsOut of 600 initial articles, a total of 77 were included in this review, of which 74 were cross-sectional, 2 were longitudinal and one was a case-control study. The studies included a total of 94,491 participants in 14 countries across the MENA region. A majority used the World Health Organization scoring system to assess dental caries. The caries prevalence ranged between 17.2% and 88.8%, early childhood caries between 3% and 57% and decayed missing filled teeth (dmft) varied between 0.6 and 8.5 across the various age groups. Increased age, low maternal education, low overall socioeconomic status, decreased frequency of tooth brushing, low parental involvement, poor oral habits, infant feeding practices and sugar consumption were among the most prevalent determinants for increased risk of caries in the reviewed studies.

conclusionsDental caries was found to be high among children in many of the studies published from MENA. The key determinants of dental caries were found to include factors related to child characteristics, family background, oral hygiene and infant feeding and eating habits. The high dental caries prevalence emphasises the need to address the prevailing modifiable sociobehavioural and socioeconomic determinants by translating them into effective oral health prevention policies and programmes.

Indexed as

Dental CariesAfrica, NorthernCase-Control StudiesChildChild, PreschoolCross-Sectional StudiesDMF IndexHumansInfantMiddle EastPrevalenceChildrenDental cariesEating habitsMiddle EastNorthern AfricaOral healthRisk factorsSocioeconomicsSugar intakeTooth brushing

Identifiers

PMID33947387
PMCPMC8097819

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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.