title: Initial orthodontic alignment effectiveness with self-ligating and conventional appliances: a network meta-analysis in practice.
abstract: Systematic reviews of well-designed trials constitute a high level of scientific evidence and are important for medical decision making. Meta-analysis facilitates integration of the evidence using a transparent and systematic approach, leading to a broader interpretation of treatment effectiveness and safety than can be attained from individual studies. Traditional meta-analyses are limited to comparing just 2 interventions concurrently and cannot combine evidence concerning multiple treatments. A relatively recent extension of the traditional meta-analytical approach is network meta-analysis, which allows, under certain assumptions, the quantitative synthesis of all evidence under a unified framework and across a network of all eligible trials. Network meta-analysis combines evidence from direct and indirect information via common comparators; interventions can therefore be ranked in terms of the analyzed outcome. In this article, the network meta-analysis approach is introduced in a nontechnical manner using a worked example on the treatment effectiveness of conventional and self-ligating appliances.
authors.affiliation: Private practice, Corfu, Greece; assistant professor, Department of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics, Dental School, Medical Faculty, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland; PhD candidate, Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, School of Medicine, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece.
authors.forename: Nikolaos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Pandis
authors.affiliation: Senior clinical lecturer and honorary consultant, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Padhraig S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Fleming
authors.affiliation: PhD candidate, Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, School of Medicine, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece.
authors.forename: Loukia M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Spineli
authors.affiliation: Assistant professor, Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, School of Medicine, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece.
authors.forename: Georgia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Salanti
mesh_terms: D057186:Comparative Effectiveness Research / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D015201:Meta-Analysis as Topic; D009967:Orthodontic Appliances; D012107:Research Design; D013223:Statistics as Topic