| Summary: | There is little systematic knowledge about interventions meant to prevent caries in small children. This report is about effects of a first dental and oral examination in children 0-2 years compared to a first dental and oral examination in children 3-5 years regarding prevention of dental caries. We did not find studies that directly answered our question. We found one study that partially answered our question. The intervention was evaluated in a non-randomized Norwegian study with 312 children. The results, of very low quality, show that:1. children who had a first dental examination at the age of 2 years, including preventive measures, had better dental status when they were examined again at the age of 3.5 years compared to children who were not examined at the age of 2 years:1.1. lower prevalence of dentine caries1.2. fewer teeth with dentine caries experience1.3. fewer tooth surfaces with dentine caries1.4. lower prevalence of enamel caries2. there were no differences between the groups regarding number of tooth surfaces with enamel caries or prevalence of plaque at clinical examination. The study did not report follow-up of the children's teeth after the examination at 3.5 years of age. We rated the quality of the documentation as very low for all outcomes and we have very little confidence in the effect estimates. Our key message is that there is too little information available to draw clear conclusions about the effects of a first dental and oral examination at the age of 2 years compared to a first dental and oral examination in children 3-5 years
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