Systematic and scoping reviews to assess biological parameters

Area of Science:

• Oral health research
• Biological data synthesis

Background:

• Evidence synthesis using biological/laboratory data is effective for health knowledge advancement.
• This approach is underutilized in the oral health field.

Purpose of the Study:

• Discuss opportunities and challenges of systematic and scoping reviews of laboratory data in dentistry.
• Highlight the potential for these reviews to clarify etiological and treatment concepts for oral diseases like periodontitis and peri-implantitis.

Main Methods:

• Focus on systematic and scoping reviews of laboratory data.
• Discussion of challenges including study design selection, risk of bias assessment, evidence assembly, and review processes.

Main Results:

• Challenges identified include: selecting ideal study designs, assessing risk of bias and certainty of evidence, evidence assembly and summary, and the review process.
• High-quality reviews integrating laboratory data can generate significant scientific information.

Conclusions:

• Despite challenges, integrating laboratory data through reviews offers valuable insights for oral health.
• Developing expert-driven processes is crucial for researchers to assemble and interpret laboratory data effectively.