title: Lower dental caries prevalence associated to chronic kidney disease: a systematic review.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The aim of this systematic review was to determine whether there is any evidence in the literature referring to a lower prevalence of dental caries in children and adolescents with chronic kidney disease (CKD) compared to healthy individuals.
  
  
  METHODS
  A search of the PubMed Medline, Ovid Medline and Cochrane Library databases was performed using the MeSH terms "dental caries" and "chronic renal failure". To be eligible for entry in our study, controlled observational studies had to present a decayed, missing and filled index for primary teeth (dmft) and/or for permanent teeth (DMFT) in children and adolescents with CKD.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After evaluation of title, keywords and abstracts of the articles selected, six articles met the inclusion criteria. Three of these six articles included studies which showed susceptibility to bias and possible confounding factors. A subsequent assessment of the six studies revealed that the mean caries indices in both primary (dmf) and permanent (DMF) teeth were lower in the children and adolescents with CKD compared with healthy individuals.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Data in the literature weakly support a lower prevalence of caries in children and adolescents with CKD than in their healthy counterparts. There is still a lack of well-designed studies that provide better scientific evidence in support of this conclusion.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics, School of Dentistry, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
authors.forename: Marcia Rejane Thomas Canabarro
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Andrade
authors.forename: Lívia Azeredo Alves
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Antunes
authors.forename: Rosangela Maria de Araújo
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Soares
authors.forename: Anna Theresa Tome
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Leão
authors.forename: Luciane Cople
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Maia
authors.forename: Laura Guimarães
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Primo
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D051436:Renal Insufficiency, Chronic / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology*