Reported molar-incisor hypomineralisation (MIH) prevalence varies widely across epidemiological studies. Differences in diagnostic criteria are one source of this variability, but heterogeneity in populations, sampling, examination methods and examiner calibration may persist even when a common diagnostic framework is used. To systematically review the reported prevalence of MIH in studies using the diagnostic framework proposed by Ghanim et al. [7]. PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science were searched from January 2015 onwards. Google Scholar was used to support forward citation tracking of included studies. Eligible studies reported extractable MIH prevalence in participants aged 6–18 years using the Ghanim diagnostic framework. Eligibility was based on the operational diagnostic method rather than the label used by authors. Risk of bias was assessed at item level using the Joanna Briggs Institute checklist. Owing to substantial clinical and methodological heterogeneity, no formal meta-analysis or sample-size-weighted pooled prevalence was undertaken; findings were synthesised descriptively. Seventeen studies involving 13,998 participants were included. Study-specific MIH prevalence ranged from 2.3% to 38.9%, with a median of 18.6% (interquartile range [IQR], 13.0%-22.9%). In a setting-based sensitivity subset restricted to 12 direct school/community studies, prevalence ranged from 4.0% to 38.9%, with a median of 17.8% (IQR, 12.9%-20.6%). Considerable variation remained in sampling frame, setting, examination method and examiner calibration. Reported MIH prevalence varied substantially across included populations. Use of the Ghanim diagnostic framework standardises the case definition but does not eliminate heterogeneity arising from study population, sampling, examination method and calibration. The evidence does not support a single global or regional prevalence estimate.
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Brejawi et al. (2026) studied this question.