Evidence-based dentistry in everyday practice

The dental community requires good quality, evidence-based research in order to enable patients to receive the best possible care available. In this regard, research methodology may either be quantitative or qualitative in its approach.¹ Quantitative-based examples include durability of restorations or the effect of interventions on the success of clinical treatments. The other style of research is qualitative, which aims to interpret, measure and enumerate trends.¹ There is a hierarchy of articles ranging from case reports and review articles up to the ideal study, which is a randomized controlled clinical trial (RCCT).² A systematic review is where the authors review, in a structured way, a series of RCCTs on a similar topic, while a meta-analysis undertakes analysis of common data on a subject. The hierarchy of clinical findings is often displayed as a pyramid where the base is made up of the lowest form of evidence and the tip displays the highest form of research (Figure 1).²