Effect of Secular Decline in Caries on the Evaluation of Preventive Dentistry Demonstrations*
- 1 June 1985
- journal article
- clinical trial
- Published by Wiley in Journal of Public Health Dentistry
- Vol. 45 (2) , 83-89
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1752-7325.1985.tb01943.x
Abstract
Studies of dental preventive interventions often do not incorporate a concurrent, longitudinal control group in their study design. The existence of a secular decline in dental caries during the conduct of these studies may result in an overstatement of the effectiveness of the preventive intervention. Results of a recent large caries preventive study are analyzed using both a concurrent, longitudinal control group and an historical comparison group to demonstrate this effect. Differences in effectiveness of preventive procedures determined using the two types of control groups are sufficient to suggest a probable misinterpretation of results of studies using only historical comparisons.Keywords
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