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Objectives: Network analysis is an innovative, analytic approach that enables visual representation of variables as nodes and their corresponding statistical associations as edges. It also provides a new way of framing oral health-related questions as complex systems of variables. We aimed to generate networks of oral health variables using epidemiological data of Indigenous children, and to compare network structures of oral health variables among participants who received immediate or delayed delivery of an oral health intervention., Methods: Epidemiological data from 448 mother-child dyads enrolled in a randomized controlled trial of dental caries prevention in South Australia, Australia, were obtained. Networks were estimated with nodes representing study variables and edges representing partial correlation coefficients between variables. Data included dental caries, impact on quality of life, self-rated general health, self-rated oral health, dental service utilization, knowledge of oral health, fatalism and self-efficacy in three time points. Communities of nodes, centrality, clustering coefficient and network stability were estimated., Results: The oral health intervention interacted with the network through self-rated general health and knowledge of oral health. Networks depicting groups shortly after receiving the intervention presented higher clustering coefficients and a similar arrangement of nodes. Networks tended to return to a preintervention state., Conclusion: The intervention resulted in increased connectivity and changes in the structure of communities of variables in both intervention groups. Our findings contribute to elucidating dynamics between variables depicting oral health networks over time., (© 2021 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to document the disparity in dental caries experiences among indigenous and nonindigenous populations globally by measuring dental caries prevalence and severity. An electronic database (MEDLINE) was initially searched using relevant keywords. This was followed by use of the search string in the following electronic databases: Scopus, EBSCOhost, Cochrane, and Open Grey. Two independent reviewers conducted the study search and screening, quality assessment, and data extraction, which was facilitated using JBI SUMARI software. The primary outcome was the decayed missing filled teeth (DMFT) score and dental caries prevalence. Subgroup analysis was done by country of publication to identify causes of heterogeneity. Forest plots were used with the standardized mean difference (SMD) and publication bias was assessed using the Egger test with funnel plot construction. For the final review, 43 articles were selected and 34 were meta-analyzed. The pooled mean DMFT for both the permanent dentition (SMD = 0.26; 95% CI 0.13-0.39) and deciduous dentition (SMD = 0.67; 95% CI 0.47-0.87) was higher for the Indigenous population than for the general population. Indigenous populations experienced more decayed teeth (SMD = 0.44; 95% CI 0.25-0.62), a slightly higher number of missing teeth (SMD = 0.11< 95% CI -0.05 to 0.26), and lesser filled teeth (SMD = -0.04; 95% CI -0.20 to 0.13) than their nonindigenous counterparts. The prevalence of dental caries (SMD = 0.27; 95% CI 0.13-0.41) was higher among indigenous people. Globally, indigenous populations have a higher caries prevalence and severity than nonindigenous populations. The factors which have led to such inequities need to be examined., (© 2021 The Author(s) Published by S. Karger AG, Basel.)