Background This paper is a summary of the proceedings of the International Association of Paediatric Dentistry Bangkok Conference on early childhood caries (ECC) held in 3‐4 November 2018. Aim The paper aims to convey a global perspective of ECC definitions, aetiology, risk factors, societal costs, management, educational curriculum, and policy. Design This global perspective on ECC is the compilation of the state of science, current concepts, and literature regarding ECC from worldwide experts on ECC. Results Early childhood caries is related to frequent sugar consumption in an environment of enamel adherent, acid‐producing bacteria in a complex biofilm, as well as developmental defects of enamel. The seriousness, societal costs, and impact on quality of life of dental caries in pre‐school children are enormous. Worldwide data show that ECC continues to be highly prevalent, yet infrequently treated. Approaches to reduce the prevalence include interventions that start in the first year of a child's life, evidence‐based and risk‐based management, and reimbursement systems that foster preventive care. Conclusions This global perspective on ECC epidemiology, aetiology, risk assessment, global impact, and management is aimed to foster improved worldwide understanding and management of ECC.

Findings of this review suggest that there is an association (albeit modest) between malocclusion/orthodontic treatment need and QoL. There is a need for further studies of their relationship, particularly studies that employ standardized assessment methods so that outcomes are uniform and thus amenable to meta-analysis.

Background/Aims: Root caries among elderly communities is of growing public health concern globally. This controlled clinical trial investigated the effectiveness of silver diamine fluoride and oral health education in preventing and arresting root caries. Methods: Two hundred sixty-six elderly subjects who had at least 5 teeth with exposed root surfaces and did not have serious life-threatening medical diseases were allocated to 3 groups according to a computer-generated random list: group 1 (the control group) received oral hygiene instructions (OHI) annually; group 2 received OHI and silver diamine fluoride (SDF) application annually, and group 3 was given OHI and SDF application annually, plus an oral health education (OHE) programme every 6 months. Results: Two hundred twenty-seven elderly subjects were followed for 24 months. The mean numbers of new root caries surfaces in groups 1, 2 and 3 were 1.33, 1.00 and 0.70, respectively (ANOVA, p < 0.05). Group 3 had fewer root surfaces with new caries than group 1 (Scheffé multiple-comparison test, p < 0.05). The mean numbers of arrested root caries surfaces in groups 1, 2 and 3 were 0.04, 0.28 and 0.33, respectively (ANOVA, p < 0.01). Group 3 and group 2 had a greater number of active root caries surfaces which became arrested than group 1 (Scheffé multiple-comparison test, p < 0.05). Conclusion: Annual application of SDF together with biannual OHE was effective in preventing new root caries and arresting root caries among community-dwelling elderly subjects.

BackgroundDental fear and anxiety (DFA) refers to the fear of and anxiety towards going to the dentist. It exists in a considerable proportion of children and adolescents and is a major dilemma in pediatric dental practice. As an Internet social medium with increasing popularity, the video-sharing website YouTube offers a useful data source for understanding health behaviors and perceptions of the public.ObjectiveUsing YouTube as a platform, this qualitative study aimed to examine the manifestations, impacts, and origins of DFA in children and adolescents from the public’s perspective.MethodsTo retrieve relevant information, we searched YouTube using the keywords “dental fear”, “dental anxiety”, and “dental phobia”. Videos in English expressing a layperson’s views or experience on children’s or adolescent’s DFA were selected for this study. A video was excluded if it had poor audiovisual quality, was irrelevant, was pure advertisement or entertainment, or contained only the views of professionals. After the screen, we transcribed 27 videos involving 32 children and adolescents, which were reviewed by a panel of 3 investigators, including a layperson with no formal dental training. Inductive thematic analysis was applied for coding and interpreting the data.ResultsThe videos revealed multiple manifestations and impacts of DFA, including immediate physical reactions (eg, crying, screaming, and shivering), psychological responses (eg, worry, upset, panic, helplessness, insecurity, resentment, and hatred), and uncooperativeness in dental treatment. Testimonials from children, adolescents, and their parents suggested diverse origins of DFA, namely personal experience (eg, irregular dental visits and influence of parents or peers), dentists and dental auxiliaries (eg, bad manner, lack of clinical skills, and improper work ethic), dental settings (eg, dental chair and sounds), and dental procedures (eg, injections, pain, discomfort, and aesthetic concerns).ConclusionsThis qualitative study suggests that DFA in children and adolescents has multifaceted manifestations, impacts, and origins, some of which only became apparent when using Internet social media. Our findings support the value of infodemiological studies using Internet social media to gain a better understanding of health issues.

To assess the effectiveness of diode low-level laser therapy (LLLT) for orthodontic pain control, a systematic and extensive electronic search for randomised controlled trials (RCTs) investigating the effects of diode LLLT on orthodontic pain prior to November 2014 was performed using the Cochrane Library (Issue 9, 2014), PubMed (1997), EMBASE (1947) and Web of Science (1956). The Cochrane tool for risk of bias evaluation was used to assess the bias risk in the chosen data. A meta-analysis was conducted using RevMan 5.3. Of the 186 results, 14 RCTs, with a total of 659 participants from 11 countries, were included. Except for three studies assessed as having a ‘moderate risk of bias’, the RCTs were rated as having a ‘high risk of bias’. The methodological weaknesses were mainly due to ‘blinding’ and ‘allocation concealment’. The meta-analysis showed that diode LLLT significantly reduced orthodontic pain by 39 % in comparison with placebo groups (P = 0.02). Diode LLLT was shown to significantly reduce the maximum pain intensity among parallel-design studies (P = 0.003 versus placebo groups; P = 0.000 versus control groups). However, no significant effects were shown for split-mouth-design studies (P = 0.38 versus placebo groups). It was concluded that the use of diode LLLT for orthodontic pain appears promising. However, due to methodological weaknesses, there was insufficient evidence to support or refute LLLT’s effectiveness. RCTs with better designs and appropriate sample power are required to provide stronger evidence for diode LLLT’s clinical applications.

There is growing interest in the association between anthropometric measurements and dental caries in childhood over time (life-course studies). The aim of this review was to identify and systematically review the evidence of the association between anthropometric measurements and dental caries in childhood over time. PubMed, Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) Web of Knowledge, the Cochrane Library, and 6 other databases were searched to identify effective articles. A systematic approach involving critical appraisal was conducted to examine the relation between anthropometric measurements and dental caries in preschool- and school-aged populations from longitudinal studies. An initial search identified 1338 studies, with 59 potentially effective studies (κ = 0.82) and 17 effective studies (κ = 0.88). The quality of reporting among the studies ranged from 19.5 to 30.0 according to the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) criteria. Among the effective studies, 2 studies in which caries was used to predict anthropometric measurements consistently found an inverse association and 15 studies in which anthropometric measurements were used to predict caries were inconsistent, with results appearing to be influenced by nonuniformity of assessments, setting, and procedure of measurements; age and ethnicity of participants; and confounders of dental caries. In conclusion, among >1000 studies identified, 17 informed this systematic review. The quality of reporting of these studies varied considerably. Evidence of the association between anthropometric measurements and dental caries is conflicting and remains inconclusive.

A Chinese version of the three components of the COHQoL measure was developed with minor modifications. In psychometric testing, the validity of the three components was supported and they demonstrated acceptable reliability.

The OHRQoL of children in both age groups (<6 and 6-14 years) was significantly improved after CORGA.