A practical approach to evidence-based dentistry: X: How to avoid being misled by clinical studies' results in dentistry

Abstract

Background and overview: Clinicians using evidence to inform decisions on a daily basis have access to a number of tools to help them judge the importance of discriminating studies conducted using suboptimal methods from more rigorous ones. Many checklists have been developed to facilitate and guide clinicians to identify and critically appraise clinical studies. However, only limited guidance is available addressing how clinicians can identify misleading claims from those that can be supported reliably by study results.

Practical implications: In this final article of a series of 10, the authors provide key concepts that clinicians can use to help them avoid using biased inferences or statements that are "too good to be true."

Keywords: Results interpretation; evidence-based dentistry; misleading presentation of results.