ArticleBritish dental journal2022
The environmental impact of community caries prevention - part 1: fluoride varnish application.
Article in British dental journal, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 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
7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Strategies and tactics to reduce the impact of healthcare on climate change: systematic review.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2024Pooled it
- Cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analyses of fluoride varnish for caries prevention in Guangxi, China.BMC oral health · 2024Trial
- Green Dentistry and Sustainability in Oral Healthcare: A Systematic Review.Dentistry journal · 2026Review
- A scoping review exploring carbon emissions in dentistry-a step towards sustainability.BMC oral health · 2025Article
- A call for a paradigm shift to community-embedded, home-based primary preventive oral health care in Africa.Frontiers in oral health · 2025Article
- Article
- Early childhood caries, climate change and the sustainable development goal 13: a scoping review.BMC oral health · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background Healthcare is a significant contributor to climate change and planetary health. Prevention of oral disease, such as caries, is an important part of any mechanism to improve sustainability. Caries prevention includes community schemes such as water fluoridation, toothbrushing, or fluoride varnish (FV) application. The aim of this study was to quantify the environmental impact of FV application.Materials and methods A comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) was conducted to quantify the environmental impact of a five-year-old child receiving two FV applications in a one-year period in schools and in dental practice.Results FV application in dental practice during an existing appointment had the lowest environmental impact in all 16 categories, followed by FV application in schools. FV application at a separate dental practice appointment had the highest impact in all categories, with a majority of the impact resulting from the patient travel into dental practice.Discussion FV application while a child is already attending dental practice (for example, at routine recall) is the most sustainable way to deliver FV. School FV programmes are an alternative, equitable way to reach all children who may not access routine care in dental practice.
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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.