SynthesisBMC oral health2025
The effectiveness of school-based supervised tooth brushing intervention for preventing dental caries: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in BMC oral health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundDental caries ranks among the most frequent childhood diseases worldwide, significantly impacting oral health and overall well-being. The objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to evaluate the efficacy of school-based supervised toothbrushing (STB) intervention in the prevention of dental caries by enhancing oral hygiene.
methodsWe performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) sourced from PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and other databases up to February 2025. Eligible studies were those that contrasted school-based STB intervention with no-intervention controls, documenting results in DMFT/dmft or DMFS/dmfs indices. Two reviewers independently screened studies, extracted data, and assessed risk of bias using Risk of Bias 2 (RoB2) tool. A random-effects model was used to pool the results, and standardized mean differences (SMDs) were calculated to account for differences in dentition types. Heterogeneity was assessed using the I² statistic and Cochran's Q test.
resultsFive of the eight RCTs that satisfied the inclusion requirements were included in the meta-analysis. A statistically significant reduction was shown in DMFS/dmfs that resulted from STB intervention (SMD = -0.22; 95% CI: -0.42 to -0.01; p = 0.037; I² = 64.6%), indicating a modest preventive effect with moderate heterogeneity. However, there was no significant effect on DMFT/dmft (SMD = 0.05; 95% CI: -0.27 to 0.37; p = 0.754; I² = 86.8%), reflecting high between-study variability.
conclusionSchool-based supervised toothbrushing intervention appear to effectively reduce dental caries at tooth surface level, as reflected in the significant reduction in DMFS/dmfs scores. However, their effect on whole-tooth caries, as measured by DMFT/dmft, remains less evident in the short term. These findings support using STB as a practical community-level intervention to promote oral health in children.
trial registrationWe have registered the protocol on the Open Science Framework (OSF) (Registration DOI: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/2JWR9 ).
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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.