Dental statistics made easy

  • N. Smeeton
UK: Radcliffe price £21.95, pp 162 ISBN 1857756568 | ISBN: 1-857-75656-8

This book is intended for 'the dental student or practitioner who wishes to discover the rationale behind the application of statistics to dentistry.' The emphasis is on developing a basic understanding of the key issues, and not on details of calculations. Only a few simple formulae are given, and are separated from the main text in an appendix. Efforts have clearly been made to make the book accessible to those with a statistics phobia, even down to the front cover, which consists of the title spelt out in big, comforting, brightly coloured letters.

The layout of the text is very readable, with a few key messages highlighted in boxes in each chapter. References for further reading are listed at the end of each chapter, along with a few 'Test your understanding' exercises.

The first half of the book deals with planning a study, and covers the types of study commonly undertaken in dental research, with a separate chapter on randomised controlled trials. Sampling techniques are also discussed. A useful chapter gives an overview of ethical considerations in conducting a study.

The second half covers the expected territory of the normal distribution, t-tests, chi-squared tests, regression, correlation and non-parametric tests, all with a distinct absence of complicated formulae. These are followed by a chapter on the basic concepts of sample size determination.

The final chapter gives a very helpful discussion of statistical refereeing, detailing the purpose of statistical referees, and giving several examples of common problems they may identify, along with the appropriate corrective action.

Overall, this book does exactly what it says in the title very well. The book will not equip a dentist to do the job of a statistician, and is not intended to do so. It will however allow a dentist to become sufficiently informed to work effectively alongside a statistician as part of a multidisciplinary team.