Table 1.

Search strategy.

Database	Search Terms
PubMed	(“early childhood caries” [MeSH terms] or “early childhood caries” [All fields] or “pediatric dental caries” [MeSH terms] or “pediatric dental caries” [All fields] or “child dentistry” [MeSH terms] or “child dentistry” [All fields] or “young children” [MeSH terms] or “young children” [All fields] or “infants” [MeSH terms] or “infants” [All fields] or “pre-school age children” [MeSH terms] or “pre-school age children” [All fields]) and (“artificial intelligence” [MeSH terms] or “artificial intelligence” [All fields] or “machine learning techniques” [MeSH terms] or “machine learning techniques” [All fields] or “deep learning approaches” [MeSH terms] or “deep learning approaches” [All fields] or “diagnostic instruments” [MeSH terms] or “diagnostic instruments” [All fields] or “decision support systems” [MeSH terms] or “decision support systems” [All fields] or “image analysis” [MeSH terms] or “image analysis” [All fields]) and (“2015/01/01” [PDAT] to “2022/12/31” [PDAT])
Scopus	TITLE-ABS-KEY (“early childhood caries” or “pediatric dental caries” or “child dentistry” or “young children” or “infants” or “pre-school age children”) and TITLE-ABS-KEY (“artificial intelligence” or “machine learning techniques” or “deep learning approaches” or “diagnostic instruments” or “decision support systems” or “image analysis”) and PUBYEAR >2014 and PUBYEAR <2023 and (LIMIT-TO (DOCTYPE, “ar”))
Embase	(“early childhood caries”/exp or “early childhood caries” or “pediatric dental caries”/exp or “pediatric dental caries” or “child dentistry”/exp or “child dentistry” or “young children”/exp or “young children” or “infants”/exp or “infants” or “pre-school age children”/exp or “pre-school age children”) and (“artificial intelligence”/exp or “artificial intelligence” or “machine learning techniques”/exp or “machine learning techniques” or “deep learning approaches”/exp or “deep learning approaches” or “diagnostic instruments”/exp or “diagnostic instruments” or “decision support systems”/exp or “decision support systems” or “image analysis”/exp or “image analysis”) and ([embase]/lim not ([embase]/lim and [medline]/lim) and (2015:2022)
The Cochrane Library	((“early childhood caries”) or (“pediatric dental caries”) or (“child dentistry”) or (“young children”) or (“infants”) or (“pre-school age children”)) and ((“artificial intelligence”) or (“machine learning techniques”) or (“deep learning approaches”) or (“diagnostic instruments”) or (“decision support systems”) or (“image analysis”)) and (Publication date >2014 and Publication date <2023)
Google Scholar	(“early childhood caries” or “pediatric dental caries” or “child dentistry” or “young children” or “infants” or “pre-school age children”) and (“artificial intelligence” or “machine learning techniques” or “deep learning approaches” or “diagnostic instruments” or “decision support systems” or “image analysis”) and (after 2014/12/31 and before 2023/01/01)
ProQuest Dissertation and Thesis	(AB (“early childhood caries”) or AB (“pediatric dental caries”) or AB (“child dentistry”) or AB (“young children”) or AB (“infants”) or AB (“pre-school age children”)) and (AB (“artificial intelligence”) or AB (“machine learning techniques”) or AB (“deep learning approaches”) or AB (“diagnostic instruments”) or AB (“decision support systems”) or AB (“image analysis”)) and PD (2015–2022)