A recent Dental Hygiene & Therapy digest,
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Study Type: Cross-sectional study (survey-based, structural path modelling)

Key Question: Which parental health beliefs, independent of socioeconomic position, predict use of preventive dental services (check-ups, sealants, fluoride varnish) in schoolchildren in China?

Key Findings:

• Socioeconomic position was the strongest predictor of service use (β = 0.287); the full model explained only 15.4% of variance.
• Perceived benefits (β = 0.131), perceived susceptibility (β = 0.115) and self-efficacy (β = 0.075) were positively associated with use; perceived barriers were negatively associated (β = -0.118).
• Perceived severity was not significantly associated (β = -0.033, P = 0.340), suggesting fear-based messaging adds little.

Clinical Relevance: In the UK, where NHS access barriers and socioeconomic gradients in children's prevention uptake persist, this supports benefit-focused, practical communication with parents over disease-severity warnings.

Limitations: Parent-reported utilization in a cross-sectional design, within a free-programme Chinese setting, limits causal inference and direct transferability to UK practice.

Study Type: Randomised controlled trial (diagnostic-treatment strategy trial), 2-year follow-up

Key Question: Does basing caries management on detection of active initial lesions, rather than advanced lesions only, reduce the need for later operative treatment in primary teeth?

Key Findings:

• 260 children aged 3-6 were randomised (222 followed up; 14.6% attrition). There was no difference between groups in surfaces needing new operative intervention at 2 years (p=0.827).
• The "all lesions" group received more non-operative care, including more professional fluoride application sessions.
• No differences were found in new lesions, restoration replacement, endodontic treatment, extractions, quality of life, or parental satisfaction.

Clinical Relevance: Detecting initial lesions in children's primary teeth did not improve outcomes but increased workload, which is relevant to NHS prevention-led care and how hygienists and therapists prioritise time.

Limitations: The abstract gives no effect sizes or confidence intervals, and the findings are limited to the primary dentition in young children over two years.

Study Type: Critical review (narrative synthesis of 20 in-vivo diagnostic accuracy studies, 1997–2025)

Key Question: How valid and reliable are current clinical and adjunctive methods for detecting non-cavitated caries lesions?

Key Findings:

• ICDAS visual examination showed high sensitivity for enamel caries (up to 98%) with moderate-to-high reliability (≥0.85); radiographs showed higher specificity, particularly for dentinal lesions, but widely variable reliability (0.08–1.00).
• Approximal lesion detection (visual or radiographic) had variable sensitivity but consistently high specificity.
• LumiCare and CALCIVIS reported sensitivity of 91–92% and specificity of 98–100%, but this rests on a single study. Evidence for FOTI and tactile examination was minimal.

Clinical Relevance: Supports a combined approach (careful ICDAS-based visual examination plus radiographs, chosen by lesion site and type), in line with risk-based preventive care in NHS practice.

Limitations: Very small evidence base for newer technologies, with heterogeneous reference standards across studies and no pooled quantitative analysis.

Study Type: Laboratory (in vitro) analytical study

Key Question: Do dentifrice tablets sold in the Netherlands contain, and make available, the fluoride levels their manufacturers claim?

Key Findings:

• Of 20 tablet products tested (ion-selective electrode and gas-liquid chromatography), only 9 met both pre-defined criteria: total fluoride >80% of the claimed content, and potentially available fluoride ≥80% of measured total fluoride.
• Eleven products therefore failed on total fluoride content, fluoride availability, or both.
• Most tablets weighed less than the amount of toothpaste recommended by the Dutch Ivory Cross, suggesting a lower delivered fluoride dose.

Clinical Relevance: Patients asking about "sustainable" tablet alternatives should be advised that fluoride content and bioavailability are unverified in many products, so standard 1,350-1,500 ppm fluoride toothpaste remains the evidence-based recommendation, particularly for high-caries-risk patients.

Limitations: This is a laboratory study of Dutch-market products only, with no clinical caries outcomes, and the abstract does not name which products failed, so findings may not apply to UK-available tablets.

Study Type: Cross-sectional study (household-based) using structural equation modelling.

Key Question: How do socioeconomic and environmental factors relate to oral health outcomes in adults and older people in remote Amazonian riverside communities, and what mediates these links?

Key Findings:

• Poorer self-reported dental status was directly associated with lower income, older age, female sex, and non-enrolment in a conditional cash transfer programme.
• Dental pain was linked to non-enrolment in cash transfers and to problem-oriented (symptom-driven) dental attendance, which was itself associated with poor dental status and inadequate household sanitation.
• Dissatisfaction with oral health was associated with dental pain and symptom-driven attendance. The abstract gives no effect sizes or confidence intervals.

Clinical Relevance: The findings reinforce the link between deprivation, symptom-driven attendance and poorer oral health, which is relevant to NHS efforts to support regular preventive care in disadvantaged and hard-to-reach groups.

Limitations: The cross-sectional design and self-reported measures (no clinical examination) prevent causal inference, and findings from remote Brazilian communities may not generalise to UK settings.

Study Type: Serial cross-sectional study (secondary analysis of two Chilean national health surveys, 2003 and 2016-17).

Key Question: Is the burden of multimorbidity associated with unmet essential dental care need (cavitated caries or denture need) in Chilean adults, and has this changed over time?

Key Findings:

• Among adults with multimorbidity (≥2 chronic conditions), adjusted prevalence of essential dental care need fell from 71.0% (2003) to 46.8% (2016-17).
• In 2016-17, adults under 65 in the highest multimorbidity category had a 26% higher adjusted prevalence of need than those with the lowest burden.
• No clear multimorbidity gradient was reported for the 65+ group.

Clinical Relevance: Patients with several chronic conditions, particularly younger adults, may carry higher untreated caries burden, supporting proactive oral health risk assessment and prevention within NHS multimorbidity pathways, though this is Chilean data.

Limitations: Cross-sectional design prevents causal inference, and findings from Chile's health system may not transfer directly to UK primary care.

Study Type: Prospective cohort study (2-year follow-up) with structural equation modelling

Key Question: Does screen time in adolescents predict dental caries incidence and oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL), and does sugar consumption mediate this?

Key Findings:

• Greater baseline screen time directly predicted higher caries incidence and poorer OHRQoL at 2 years in 323 12-year-olds.
• Sugar consumption mediated the screen time–caries link; caries incidence in turn mediated the screen time–OHRQoL link.
• Female sex and caries incidence independently predicted poorer OHRQoL. (Effect sizes not reported in the abstract.)

Clinical Relevance: Screen time may be a modifiable behavioural marker worth including in adolescent risk assessment and dietary advice alongside sugar intake, which is relevant to UK prevention work in deprived communities.

Limitations: Screen time, sugar intake and toothbrushing were self-reported, and the Brazilian public-school sample limits generalisability to UK adolescents.

Study Type: Scoping review (PRISMA-ScR; registered on OSF), using a decolonising framework.

Key Question: What is known about the prevalence, determinants and interventions for early childhood caries (ECC) in Indigenous children aged 0-5 in Africa?

Key Findings:

• Only two cross-sectional studies (South Africa and Cameroon) met inclusion criteria; no intervention studies were identified.
• ECC prevalence was high but variable (27.5%-63%).
• Reported determinants spanned individual/family (diet, oral hygiene), community (cultural norms) and systemic levels (unequal healthcare access, colonial legacy). Neither study used community-led or participatory methods.

Clinical Relevance: Direct UK practice impact is limited, but it illustrates how poorly evidenced ECC burden is in underserved populations and reinforces the case for community-engaged prevention, relevant to NHS work on oral health inequalities.

Limitations: With only two studies included, no firm conclusions on prevalence, determinants or effective interventions can be drawn.