title: A practical approach to evidence-based dentistry: III: how to appraise and use an article about therapy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Dental practitioners spend most of their time administering treatments. To ensure that their clinical decisions are informed by the best available evidence, dental practitioners need to be skilled in critically appraising studies addressing therapy issues. Randomized controlled trials offer the optimal study design to inform decisions regarding therapy. The critical appraisal of randomized controlled trials involves assessing the risk of bias, results, and applicability. In this article, the authors present these concepts and provide guidance for this type of appraisal.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Dentists who wish to inform their clinical decisions regarding therapy and prevention questions can use these guidelines to decide what type of studies to search, define the specific question of interest to search efficiently for these studies, and critically appraise an article about therapy or prevention.
authors.forename: Romina
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Brignardello-Petersen
authors.forename: Alonso
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carrasco-Labra
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Glick
authors.forename: Gordon H
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Guyatt
authors.forename: Amir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Azarpazhooh
mesh_terms: D015982:Bias; D003729:Dental Care / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D055094:Evidence-Based Dentistry / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D010506:Periodicals as Topic; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic / Q000592:standards; D009057:Stomatognathic Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy
keywords: Evidence-based dentistry; critical appraisal; prevention; randomized controlled trials; therapy