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DTUK0813

11MSc BlogApril 1-7, 2013United Kingdom Edition “ Wow, just get a look at that bad boy!” It’s high fives all round as yet another suc- cessfully completed restoration is unveiled before a grateful and admiring patient. “I can’t even tell which tooth you’ve fixed” they purr. You feel your chest swell as you bask in the knowl- edge of a job well done. Then it happens. They turn from the mirror, all smouldering menace and jaw-jutting attitude and as they deliver the immor- tal lines “How long is that going to last then?” and you degener- ate into incoherent stammering. Sound familiar? How strange the change from major to minor. However, as I write we’ve just reached the end of this lat- est phase of the MSc, namely the Research and Statistics module, so I’ve now got all the answers. “Evidence”,aconjurer’sword of such power that the phantoms of those haunted late years in general practice can now be set to flight. I can now ditch the dull pragmatism necessary to survive the zany egg and spoon race that passes for dental prac- tice these days, and really give it to them straight! Strange how potent the power of Evidence Based Dentistry; however did we cope before Dave Sackett et al? Thankfully there’s “evi- dence” to support just about any clinical claim. If I may plagiarise (for once) the late great Groucho Marx, “this is my evidence, and if you do not like it, I have oth- er evidence”, and with industry sponsored trials four times likely to produce a “favourable” result there is almost an endless sup- ply of “evidence” to choose from. However, some experts suggest more than 95 per cent of current evidence is frankly, useless; little more than a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. I have no evidence for this last statement, but what the hell? Shockingly, it appears most research is poorly conducted or even worse, motivated by com- mercial advantage or for the advancement of researcher’s ca- reers. There are so many types of research “bias” I’ve lost count. Consequently we have been in- volved in the fine art of trash- ing research papers for the last 12 weeks. What of truth is left I wonder, when the trashing This is my evidence, but I have others... Ken Harris discusses from the University of Manchester Research and Statistics module of the MSc in Restorative & Aesthetic dentistry page 12DTà ‘If I may plagia- rise (for once) the late great Groucho Marx, “this is my evidence, and if you do not like it, I have other evidence’