Key Points
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An insight into evidence-based dentistry and the origins of evidence-based medicine
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The philosophy of drawing conclusions from evidence
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Different approaches to assessing the evidence provided by the results in a frequency table
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An explanation of the number needed to treat (NNT)
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Some guidelines to follow when adopting an evidence-based approach to dentistry
Key Points
Further statistics in dentistry:
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1
Research designs 1
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2
Research designs 2
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3
Clinical trials 1
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4
Clinical trials 2
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5
Diagnostic tests for oral conditions
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Multiple linear regression
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Repeated measures
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Systematic reviews and meta-analyses
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Bayesian statistics
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10
Sherlock Holmes, evidence and evidence-based dentistry
Abstract
If one were to go by the explosion of interest in evidence-based clinical practice in the past decade of the second millennium, one could be forgiven for thinking that the idea was new. In fact, a quick search of Medline revealed 9,306 references to 'evidence-based medicine' (EBM) and 291 when the search was restricted to dentistry. It is claimed (Sackett et al., 1996)1 that the origins of EBM date back to mid nineteenth century Paris or earlier although the name EBM was coined in 1992. The inventor of the randomised controlled clinical trial, Sir Austin Bradford Hill, in the 1950s set out the statistical foundations of EBM.
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Osborn, J., Bulman, J. & Petrie, A. Further statistics in dentistry Part 10: Sherlock Holmes, evidence and evidence-based dentistry. Br Dent J 194, 189–195 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.4809907
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.4809907
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