SynthesisOral health & preventive dentistry2020
Knowledge of Postgraduate Dental Students on Evidence-based Dentistry and Research Methodology. An International Survey.
Synthesis in Oral health & preventive dentistry, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- A systematic review of the content and delivery of clinical knowledge in orthodontic postgraduate programs.BMC medical education · 2025Pooled it
- A hybrid compulsory-flexible course in postgraduate dental basic research education: improving student performance and satisfaction.BMC medical education · 2026Article
- A scientometric study on research trends and characteristics of randomized controlled trials in orthodontics.Journal of dental sciences · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeTo assess the knowledge of postgraduate dental students about evidence-based methodology pertaining to the design, conduct, and critical appraisal of clinical trials. MATERIALS AND
methodsSenior postgraduate students were surveyed from the dental schools of three universities in Athens (Greece), Boston (USA), and Zürich (Switzerland). The proportion of students correctly answering each of the 10 questions of the survey, as well as the cumulative scores, were analysed statistically with descriptive statistics and logistic/linear regression analysis at α = 5%.
resultsA total of 96 students with a mean age of 30.0 years attained an overall correct score of 45.6% ± 15.0%, with correct answers to each question ranging from 13.5% to 86.5%. The questions most frequently answered incorrectly pertained to characterising sensitivity/specificity (13.5%), the number needed to treat (14.0%), the credibility of trial synthesis in meta-analysis (23.7%), and publication bias (29.5%). The vast majority of postgraduate students could correctly identify the role of statistical power of a trial (63.8%), random allocation sequence in a randomised trial (76.0%), and blinding in a randomised trial (86.5%). Paediatric dentistry postgraduate students scored better than students from other departments (+15.1%; 95% CI: 3.0% to 27.1%; p = 0.02).
conclusionsPostgraduate students in orthodontics and other dental specialties possessed moderate knowledge on evidence-based methodology and clinical trials. Efforts should be made to integrate such subjects in university postgraduate curricula, so that future dental specialists can critically appraise such research papers.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.