Understanding and Appraising Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis.

Systematic reviews and meta-analysis seek to answer a pre-framed research question to lead to a valid answer through a systematic, explicit and reproducible method of locating; identifying, including and appraising appropriate trials. The results are synthesized considering the methodological rigor of included trials. While the meta-analysis quantitatively pools the results from individual included studies, the systematic review summarizes the findings as qualitative conclusions. These reviews are crux of evidence based dentistry for various stake-holders, i.e., clinicians, researchers and policy-makers. Although the meticulous methodology of systematic review and meta-analysis minimizes the elements of bias, yet the validity and reliability of their findings should be explored prior to translating their conclusions to practice. The goal of this paper is to familiarize readers with rationale, conduct and appraisal of systematic review and meta-analysis. Further, guidance is provided on tracing potential elements of bias in the review to enable readers to judge the quality of evidence generated from the review.

Acceptability and Efficacy of Commercial Oral Preparation of Midazolam for brief Painful Procedure: A Randomized Double Blind Clinical Trial.

AIM: To compare the acceptability and efficacy of orally administered commercially available midazolam syrup and injection midazolam mixed in honey for performing venepuncture. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This double blind randomized controlled trial enrolled 40 anxious and healthy 2 to 6 years olds. All subjects received either syrup midazolam or injection midazolam mixed in honey (0.5 mg/kg) per orally, prior to venepuncture as per their group assignment. Primary outcome measures in this trial was acceptability of midazolam. Secondary outcome measures included sedation depth, success of venepuncture, observer and parental satisfaction and parental perception of child's pain. RESULTS: Although the acceptability of syrup midazolam (95%) was higher than injection midazolam (80%), there was no significant difference among two groups with respect to any primary or secondary outcome (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Syrup midazolam can serve as a suitable alternative to injection midazolam; thus, eliminating the procedural steps of mixing injection midazolam with any vehicle. How to cite this article: Srivastava B, Mittal N, Mittal P. Acceptability and Efficacy of Commercial Oral Preparation of Midazolam for brief Painful Procedure: A Randomized Double Blind Clinical Trial. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent 2014;7(3):153-156.

Bispectral Index Monitoring: validity and utility in pediatric dentistry.

Reliable and safe provision of sedation and general anesthesia is dependent on continuous vigilance of patient's sedation depth. Failure to do so may result in unintended oversedation or undersedation. It is a common practice to observe sedation depth by applying subjective sedation scales and in case of general anesthesia, practitioner is dependent on vital sign assessment. The Bispectral Index System (BIS) is a recently introduced objective, quantitative, easy to use, and free from observer bias, and clinically useful tool to assess sedation depth and it precludes the need to stimulate the patient to assess his sedation level. The present article is an attempt to orient the readers towards utility and validity of BIS for sedation and general anesthesia in pediatric dentistry. In this article, we attempt to make the readers understand the principle of BIS, its variation across sedation continuum, its validity across different age groups and for a variety of sedative drugs.