REVIEW QUESTION: The objective of this quantitative systematic review is to appraise the current clinical literature for evidence whether loss of complete sealant retention is directly associated with caries occurrence on formerly sealed teeth and to apply the appraised evidence as test for the null-hypothesis that the retention/caries ratio between different types of sealant materials is not statistically significant. SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE SEARCH: The following electronic databases will b...
BACKGROUND: Systematic reviews aim to answer clearly formulated questions by using systematic and explicit methods for identifying, selecting, and critically appraising relevant research. However, as research progresses, the content of a systematic review may become obsolete. The modified Ottawa method was developed in order to identify qualitative and quantitative signals indicating the need to update a systematic review. The aim of this study was to investigate how well signals identifi...
OBJECTIVE: To test the null hypothesis that clinical dental trials with adequate random sequence generation together with adequate allocation concealment do not differ in their effect size from trials lacking adequate concealment. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: The oral health section of the Cochrane database was searched online until 20 July 2011. All listed entries, except reviews in protocol stage and duplications, were included. Included systematic reviews were accepted for data extraction ...
REVIEW AIM: The aim of this systematic review is to appraise the quality of existing reviews in the English dental literature in regard to general review methodology, as well as specifically to the comparison method applied, during the last 20 years concerning the compared longevity of different types of direct restorations placed in permanent posterior teeth and subsequently the validity of such reviews’ conclusions. SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE SEARCH: Databases: MEDLINE accessed via PubMed; ...
CONTEXT: The dichotomous outcome of a clinical intervention may be defined as success versus failure and subsequently expressed in the number of intervention successes and failures. Success and failure numbers of two clinical interventions may be compared and the resulting effect estimate expressed either as Risk ratio (RR) or Odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). The expression of effect estimates in Risk ratio appears to be easier to interpret. Also, Risk ratio of success ...
CONTEXT: Selection bias interferes with the internal validity of clinical trials and leads to favoring one clinical outcome over another. Random sequence generation and allocation concealment of such sequence have been proposed to limit the risk of selection bias. However, selection bias can be introduced based on knowledge of the directly observed random sequence when allocation concealment is subverted. Such subversion may statistically be detected in randomised control trials with dich...
CONTEXT: Systematic review evidence provides best justification for specific beliefs regarding clinical interventions. The degree of such belief depends on the precision and internal validity of the evidence. While precision is often achieved on basis of quantification and statistical analysis, the (internal) validity of the evidence is appraised through judgement of the risk for several known biases. Against the background of the subsequent results, a conclusion is formulated in answer t...
CONTEXT: Clinical knowledge, as any other type of knowledge, can be regarded as justified belief. The justification of belief follows two cognitive strategies: coherence of logic and correspondence of facts. PROBLEM: Coherence strategy has been traditionally favoured in the justification of beliefs concerning medical interventions throughout the centuries and is today still preferred by many clinicians as providing “logical sense” for or against the application of therapies, diagnostic...
BACKGROUND: This 3rd systematic review update includes evidence from further Chinese trials that were identified during reference re-check and regression analysis of the possible influence of split-mouth study design on overall results. REVIEW OBJECTIVE: This systematic review seeks to answer the question as to whether, in patients with carious cavities of any class in primary and permanent teeth, ART restorations with high-viscosity GIC have a higher failure rate than amalgam restorations...
BACKGROUND: This further systematic review update includes evidence from Chinese trials that were initially still under translation, as well as corrections of all identified errata. Atraumatic Restorative Treatment (ART) is a minimally invasive procedure that involves removing markedly softened carious enamel and dentine, using only hand instruments, and then restoring the resulting cavity with an adhesive restorative material. Although developed for use in the less industrialized parts o...
The following errors have been identified for: Mickenautsch S, Yengopal V. Failure rate of atraumatic restorative treatment using high-viscosity glass-ionomer cement compared to conventional amalgam restorative treatment in primary and permanent teeth: a systematic review update. J Minim Interv Dent 2012; 5: 63 – 124. These errors do not change its overall conclusion. Nonetheless, the corrections listed below should be taken into considerations when reading this particular systematic re...
CONTEXT: Selection bias interferes with the internal validity of clinical trials and leads to favouring one clinical outcome over another. In order to limit the influence of selection bias on clinical trials, the methodological interventions: random sequence generation and allocation concealment of such sequence have been proposed. Subsequently, authors of systematic reviews judge risk of selection bias in trials according to the reported details concerning how random sequence generation ...
BACKGROUND: Atraumatic restorative treatment (ART) is a minimally invasive procedure that involves removing markedly softened carious enamel and dentine, using only hand instruments, and then restoring the resulting cavity with an adhesive restorative material. Although developed for use in the less industrialized parts of the world ART has now been accepted as part of the minimum intervention (MI) dentistry philosophy in developed countries. Currently the restorative material of choice f...
CONTEXT: Selection bias interferes with the internal validity of clinical trials and leads to favoring one clinical outcome over another. Risk of selection bias is introduced when knowledge of certain patient characteristics, known to be conducive to the success of one particular intervention, is applied together with foreknowledge regarding the allocation of such patients in a specific sequence of interventions. PROBLEM: Selection bias testing has been proposed and recommended on basis of...
This protocol has been registered with the International Prospective Register for Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) on the 05 January 2012 under registration number CRD42012001887 (Available online from http://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/full_doc.asp?ID=CRD42012001887). This protocol comprises an update of an existing systematic review report by the authors as part of the SYSTEM initiative: Mickenautsch S, Yengopal V, Banerjee A. Atraumatic restorative treatment versus amalgam restoration lon...