Despite improvement, dental caries is still the main public oral health problem worldwide
and the major cause of pain, tooth loss and chewing difficulties in children and adolescents;
and it impacts negatively on oral health-related quality of life. A cross-sectional study of a
multistage representative sample of 8–12-year-old Brazilian school children was carried out
in order to investigate the association between enamel defects and dental caries. Children's
mothers completed a questionnaire about socio-demographic and behavioural …

Results Nine papers were included in the systematic review with seven contributing to meta-
analysis. A positive association between developmental defects of enamel and permanent
dentition caries experience was identified in six studies. The pooled effect obtained with the
random model was 2.21 (95% CI 1.39; 3.54). Conclusions The results demonstrate a
positive association between caries experience and enamel defects, which could be
considered a potential predictor for dental caries. However, the only study design type …