title: Traumatic dental injury research: on children or with children?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  It is widely acknowledged that children should participate in healthcare decisions, service development and even setting research agendas. Dental traumatology is a major component of paediatric dentistry practice and research. However, little is known about young patients' contribution to new knowledge in this field. The aim of the study was to establish the extent to which children are involved in contemporary dental trauma research and to evaluate the quality of the related literature.
  
  
  METHODS
  A systematic review of the dental trauma literature was conducted from 2006 to 2014. The electronic databases, MEDLINE and Scopus, were used to identify relevant studies. The selected papers were independently examined by five calibrated reviewers. Studies were categorized by the degree of children's involvement and appraised using a validated quality assessment tool.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The initial search yielded 4374 papers. After application of the inclusion and exclusion criteria, only 96 studies remained. Research on children accounted for 87.5% of papers, and a proxy was involved in 4.2%. Children were engaged to some degree in only 8.3% of studies, and there were no studies where children were active research participants. In the quality assessment exercise, papers scored, on average, 57% (range = 14-86%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is scope to encourage more active participation of children in dental trauma research in the future. Furthermore, there are some areas where the quality of research could be improved overall.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric Dentistry, Charles Clifford Dental Hospital, Sheffield, UK.
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wallace
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric Dentistry, Charles Clifford Dental Hospital, Sheffield, UK.
authors.forename: Helen J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Rogers
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric Dentistry, Charles Clifford Dental Hospital, Sheffield, UK.
authors.forename: Halla
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zaitoun
authors.affiliation: Academic Unit of Oral Health and Development, School of Clinical Dentistry, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
authors.forename: Helen D
authors.initials: HD
authors.lastname: Rodd
authors.affiliation: Academic Unit of Oral Health and Development, School of Clinical Dentistry, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
authors.forename: Fiona
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gilchrist
authors.affiliation: Academic Unit of Dental Public Health, School of Clinical Dentistry, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
authors.forename: Zoe
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Marshman
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D018865:Dental Research; D006801:Humans; D010358:Patient Participation; D010377:Pediatric Dentistry; D018677:Tooth Injuries; D014194:Traumatology
keywords: child; dental trauma; dental trauma research; patient involvement; patient participation