Effect of secular decline in caries on the evaluation of preventive dentistry demonstrations.
Studies of dental preventive interventions often do not incorporate a concurrent, longitudinal control group in their study design. The existence of a secular decline in dental caries during the conduct of these studies may result in an overstatement of the effectiveness of the preventive intervention. Results of a recent large caries preventive study are analyzed using both a concurrent, longitudinal control group and an historical comparison group to demonstrate this effect. Differences in effectiveness of preventive procedures determined using the two types of control groups are sufficient to suggest a probable misinterpretation of results of studies using only historical comparisons.
H M
HM
Bohannan
R C
RC
Graves
J A
JA
Disney
J W
JW
Stamm
J B
JB
Abernathy
J D
JD
Bader
D000293:Adolescent; D001296:Audiovisual Aids; D002648:Child; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D005457:Fluoridation; D005459:Fluorides; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D009067:Mouthwashes; D011897:Random Allocation; D012571:School Dentistry; D013334:Students
D009067:Mouthwashes; D005459:Fluorides