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The prevalence of dental caries among Indigenous populations compared to non-Indigenous populations: a quantitative systematic review protocol.

OBJECTIVE
The objective of this review is to evaluate if the prevalence of dental caries is higher among Indigenous populations compared to non-Indigenous populations.


INTRODUCTION
Globally, Indigenous populations have experienced substantial inequalities in health, including oral health care, when compared to their non-Indigenous counterparts. Indigenous populations experience a higher prevalence of dental caries, but most of this data has been collected from convenience samples not involving non-Indigenous groups. This review will highlight differences in the prevalence of dental caries globally among Indigenous groups compared to non-Indigenous groups.


INCLUSION CRITERIA
The systematic review will include all studies that have compared the prevalence of dental caries (% of decayed teeth>0) and dental caries experince (mean score of decayed, missing, filled teeth) among Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations across all ages.


METHODS
Initially, articles will be searched in MEDLINE, followed by a more comprehensive search on Scopus, EBSCOhost (Dentistry and Oral Sciences Sources), Cochrane Database, and Open Grey. The search will be conducted independently by two reviewers from database inception to September 2020. A reference list will be made identifying all eligible studies. Titles and abstracts will be reviewed, as well as the full text of articles that meet the inclusion criteria. To assess methodological quality, a standardized critical appraisal checklist for studies reporting prevalence will be selected, followed by standardized data extraction using the JBI tool. The results from included studies will be analyzed using JBI SUMARI.


SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION NUMBER
PROSPERO CRD42020204311.