ReviewFrontiers in oral health2026
Progressive health states and transition probabilities in pediatric dental caries: a systematic review of current evidence and research gaps.
Review in Frontiers in oral health, 2026. 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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- State-transition and simulation-based modeling approaches for simulating the progression of dental caries: a scoping review.Frontiers in oral health · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Introduction: Understanding the progression of dental caries in children, characterized by transitions between distinct health states, may benefit the development of prevention and disease modeling frameworks. This systematic review aimed to synthesize evidence on transition probabilities between childhood dental health states across diverse study designs and populations. Methods: Comprehensive searches of PubMed and Scopus (last searched September 2025) identified observational and modeling studies reporting discrete caries health states in children. Data were extracted on study design, health state definitions, transition parameters, and model characteristics, and methodological quality was appraised using established tools such as JBI checklists. This review was registered in PROSPERO (CRD420251135660) under the title "Distinct Progressive Health States and Associated Transition Probabilities in Pediatric Dental Caries: A Systematic Review". The title was modified for clarity in the present manuscript. Results: A total of 12 reports on 11 studies were included, comprising observational and modeling studies reporting transitions of teeth or surfaces across pediatric populations. Across studies, results were synthesized narratively, most showing that stability within the same health state was the most common pattern, while progression and regression occurred less frequently and were largely dependent on model complexity. Multi-state models capturing lesion depth and activity appear to reflect bidirectional transitions and potential lesion reactivation, whereas simpler two-state models tend to reflect unidirectional onset. Discussion: Methodological limitations, including bias, variability in lesion assessment, incomplete confounder adjustment, and restrictive modeling assumptions, reduced the robustness and comparability of the evidence. Nevertheless, this review offers supporting data for current model-based research on pediatric caries progression within the scope of this review, highlighting patterns, sources of variability, and the need for harmonized health state definitions, standardized assessment procedures, and transparent reporting to improve future modeling and evidence-based prevention strategies. Systematic Review Registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/view/CRD420251135660, PROSPERO CRD420251135660.
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Registered trials
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