Dental caries is one of the most prevalent human diseases. And understanding the role of diet, demographics, and environmental factors in dental caries rates in children is essential to improve children’s health.

To better understand these factors, CareQuest Institute conducted a systematic review of four studies to examine the link between consumption of added sugar and the incidence and prevalence of dental caries in US children from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Key findings include:

Provider and Patient Perspectives

Can artificial intelligence (AI) facilitate dental providers’ diagnoses and educate patients about their oral health conditions?

Mpox (also known as monkeypox or MPX) lesions may first appear in the mouth or on the tongue and may appear before lesions on other areas of the body. This finding means that oral health providers may be the first health care professionals to detect signs of the mpox virus in their patients, according to an updated report from CareQuest Institute.

Oral health professionals, research suggests, can also play a key role in reducing the spread of this virus. Key points from the report include: 

The Role of Dental Hygienists

With half of children and two-thirds of adults in the US experiencing some type of traumatic event, oral health care providers must be able to provide compassionate, trauma-informed care, according to this article in The Journal of Dental Hygiene. The article, authored by CareQuest Institute researchers, examines the critical role of the dental hygienist.

An Analysis of Dental and Medical Claims Data 

In this article in The Journal of the American Dental Association, CareQuest Institute researchers found that overall health care costs were reduced in both Medicaid patients (14% less) and commercially insured patients (12% less) with diabetes who had received periodontal treatment within the previous two years.