Evidence-based dentistry

During the years spent as a dental student and while practising as a dentist, it is important to be able to assess causes of disease and to determine effective methods of detection, prevention and treatment. Throughout their careers, dentists need to keep abreast of new developments and techniques. There is, however, an abundance of published research and it can be difficult for the student or practising dentist to be able to identify and, more importantly, interpret articles that would be useful. This book aims to provide an introduction to understanding and interpreting research articles.This book introduces the basic epidemiological and statistical aspects of research. Because the aim is for dentists to be able to read scientific articles, all the topics and concepts covered are based entirely on published papers from journals in dentistry, and the understanding of numerical concepts is achieved through building on particular examples.