The journal of evidence-based dental practice
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J Evid Based Dent Pract · Dec 2012
Guidelines for reporting pre-clinical in vitro studies on dental materials.
In vitro pre-clinical research is an important aspect of the development of new dental materials and techniques, because it can provide essential information for further testing of therapeutic approaches in clinical trials. These pre-clinical experiments should therefore be reported with the same rigor as studies involving humans. The objectives of this paper were twofold: (a) to search and assess existing guidelines for reporting in vitro studies in dentistry, and (b) to present a methodology for reporting these studies, based on the CONSORT checklist for reporting randomized clinical trials. ⋯ The guidelines presented are the first standards for reporting in vitro studies in dentistry. As with the original CONSORT document, the modified checklist is evolving. It should, therefore, be further tested by researchers and the results of these assessments should be used for further improvement of this tool.