As I have read through dental journals, I have often had to look up specific terms and phrases that I did not understand. I would like to share the definitions of some because they may show up in my blog and it would be helpful to have something to reference.
A systematic review is a literature review that compiles and studies various research papers. A meta-analysis is a statistical procedure for combining data from multiple studies. The difference between them is that systematic review answers a defined research question that summarizes all empirical evidence while meta-analysis is a statistical method to summarize results of studies.
In vitro means the study or experiment was done in a controlled environment outside of a living organism while in vivo, which means "within the living", is a study or experiment preformed using the whole organism.
A few abbreviations I had to get used to include: CAD/CAM, which is computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing and FPD, which means fixed partial denture.
More definitions to come!
Hi Sydney! Just curious, do "in vitro" dental experiments occur more often than "in vivo"? I'd assume it would be difficult to get many patients to sign up for a study. Which would you say gives more accurate/long lasting results?
ReplyDeleteThis is actually a question I would love to ask Dr. Kramer about and then get back to you about. However, just to give you more background on "in vitro" studies in dentistry, a procedure called termocycling is used which is measured in the amount of cycles that the restorations go through and is meant to mimic the thermal fluctuations that occur in an oral cavity.
Delete"In vivo" experiments give more reliable results than "in vitro" ones do, but "in vitro" is the best place to start. Typically beagles or other non-human research is conducted for dentistry experiments before it is cleared for human experimentation. Beagles and other animals have similar oral environments and can be great indicators for how it will hold up in a human mouth. Human experimentation is the last phase of the process.
Delete