title: Is the evidence supporting dental procedures strong? A survey of Cochrane systematic reviews in oral health.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Every day a large number and variety of dental procedures are performed in clinical dental practice. There is, however, no information on the overall quality of evidence supporting these procedures. The objective of this study was to assess whether several common dental procedures are based on sound evidence.
  
  
  METHODS
  All Cochrane systematic reviews (CSR) published in dentistry were surveyed. The authors' conclusions about the quality of evidence supporting a specific clinical treatment were used as the measure of outcome. The evidence was considered adequate if the authors did not clearly state the evidence was weak in the conclusions while also suggesting some evidence of the effectiveness of the therapy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 120 CSRs assessed, in only 26 (22.0% of the reviews) was the quality of evidence regarded as adequate for supporting clinical decisions, although some methodological limitations were identified in the full text of these reviews. Moreover, the authors of most reviews reported weak or unavailable evidence.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  On the basis of CSRs, the overall quality of evidence can be regarded as low or nonexistent for most of the dental procedures assessed. The information reported may guide future research.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Sciences, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. clovisfaggion@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Clovis Mariano
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Faggion
mesh_terms: D003813:Dentistry; D055094:Evidence-Based Dentistry; D006801:Humans; D009909:Oral Health; D012196:Review Literature as Topic