Uncontrolled trials are criticized as unreliable. This study aimed to establish how the number of published reports from uncontrolled clinical trials compares to that of controlled trials for directly placed restorations in vital teeth and whether their annual number is increasing, stable or decreasing. PubMed was searched and suitable citations of uncontrolled and controlled trial reports published between 1990–2016 were included. Reference check and hand searching were conducted. T...