Beneficial effects of supervised toothbrushing on caries incidence in children and adolescents are questioned

Abstract

Data sourcesThe Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Medline via PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, LILACS and BBO. Sources of grey literature included Open Grey, EThOS and Banco de Teses CAPES. Two international registers of ongoing trials were also searched (Current Controlled Trials and ClinicalTrials.gov). There were no language or date restrictions.Study selectionNo information is given in the manuscript or the published protocol on how the study selection was carried out, although the authors state that they followed PRISMA guidelines.Data extraction and synthesisData extraction and risk of bias assessment were carried out independently by two reviewers.ResultsFour studies were included; in all trials, supervised toothbrushing took place in schools. However, they differed in participant ages and caries risk as well as toothpaste fluoride concentration. Outcomes and outcome measures also varied. Two trials reported statistically significant differences in favour of supervised toothbrushing but lacked data on effect size and precision. No meta-analyses were carried out because of the high degree of heterogeneity between the studies.ConclusionsThe lack of high quality evidence meant that this systematic review was unable to reach a definitive conclusion on the effectiveness of supervised toothbrushing programmes on caries incidence in children and adolescents.