School dental screening programmes for oral health.

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Pediatric Dentistry
• Health Services Research

Background:

• School dental screening identifies oral health issues in children, aiming for early intervention.
• This review is an update assessing the effectiveness of school dental screening programs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of school dental screening programs.
• To assess impacts on children's oral health status and dental service utilization.

Main Methods:

• Systematic review including eight randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with 21,290 children.
• Searched multiple databases up to October 2015, including published and unpublished studies.
• Assessed risk of bias and performed meta-analysis for specific outcomes like dental attendance.

Main Results:

• Evidence is insufficient to conclude on the role of school dental screening in improving dental attendance.
• Criteria-based screening showed a possible small benefit over no screening (low-certainty evidence).
• Personalized referral letters and screening supplemented with motivation may improve dental attendance (very low-certainty evidence).

Conclusions:

• The effectiveness of school dental screening for improving dental attendance remains uncertain due to low-certainty evidence and short-term follow-up.
• Specific interventions like personalized referrals and motivational components show potential but require further high-quality research.
• No trials assessed long-term oral health improvements, cost-effectiveness, or adverse events.