Randomized Controlled Trials in Pediatric Dentistry

Well-designed high-quality randomized controlled trials (RCTs) provide scientific evidence for clinical practitioners to provide the appropriate care for their patients. In this chapter, published RCTs in pediatric dentistry are reviewed. A wide range of topics has been covered in the RCTs in the literature. However, knowledge gaps between the present evidence and the necessities of pediatric practitioners and patients still exist. Despite this, it is found that the quality of many RCTs in the literature is suboptimal. This weakens the validity and reliability of the evidence provided by these RCTs. Thus, important considerations regarding designing, conducting, and reporting RCTs in pediatric dentistry are addressed and elaborated with ample examples to help investigators to conduct high-quality RCTs in future. Besides, specific issues in conducting RCTs in pediatric dentistry, for example, the access of pediatric population, the acquisition of parental consent as well as children assent, the management to minimize non-cooperation of pediatric patients, the arrangement and scheduling of research activities in school-based trials, are discussed and commented.