The reality of reviews in materials science: “Which material is better”, “For how long is a treatment effective?”

Abstract

There are many times when a dentist wonders “Which material is better?”, but it is difficult to reach a conclusion from a single paper and the dentist must consider several papers. It is also difficult to answer the question “For how long is a treatment effective?”. When searching for clinical evidence, there are often no useful clinical outcomes. With those realities in mind, this paper explains reviews of basic and clinical research in materials research, and then considers the question “Can basic research (i.e. bond strength tests) predict the clinical efficacy of adhesive materials?”. In addition, the episodes and ingenuity that the author experienced when writing review papers are introduced.