Objectives: The aim of the study was to review the historical background of the methodologies currently in use for clinical investigations of contemporary tooth coloured dental restorative materials and techniques, and to attempt to identify the likely general direction of such research projects in the future.
Data sources: Published articles obtained as a result of a wide ranging literature search of both dental and medical journals.
Study selection: Historical and contemporary accounts of clinical trial management, upon which an overview of the key events important in the evolution of clinical methods of evaluation of dental restorative materials, and a prediction of possible future trends in this area, could be based.
Conclusions: Publication of dental restoratives clinical research has not kept up with that in medicine, where editors of leading journals require that clinical trials be run in accordance with the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) guidelines. The current trend towards evidence based treatment in dentistry can be expected to initiate more statistically powerful clinical studies of dental restoratives, and the merit of involving general dentists in practice based research can also be anticipated to become increasingly recognised in the future.