Background: Endodontic treatment of deciduous or permanent teeth is an emergency as well as routine management due to dental caries involving dental pulp or traumatized tooth. Various types of treatment and medications are advised for this treatment. Guidelines are needed to be prepared for informed decision making for patient centered outcomes. So, there is a need to assess certainty of evidence presented in the Cochrane reviews related to endodontic treatments.
Objectives: Status of certainty of evidence of Cochrane reviews related to endodontic treatments in adult and children
Method: All cochrane reviews were searched related to endodontic treatment of natural teeth using the terms 'endodontic' or 'root canal treatment' or 'pulpectomy' till February 2024. Certainty of evidence was found.
Results: We found 10 cochrane systematic reviews (SR) on this topic. Two reviews were withdrawn, one review did not have any trial, one review did not report certainty of evidence. One review was updated twice and three reviews were updated once. Number of trials in six reviews included one trial to 87 trials. Number of teeth in participants ranged from 11 to 7140 in these six SR. Certainty of evidence ranged from low to moderate in one SR, low in one SR, very low to low in one SR, very low to moderate in one SR, very low in two SR. Reasons are small sample size, heterogeneity, high/unclear risk of bias, imprecision in SR. One SR also reported inconsistency. All SR were downgraded by 1-3 levels in six Cochrane reviews.
Conclusion: Certainty of evidence was of very low to moderate level in the majority of outcomes in SR. There is a need to improve the quality of trials having adequate sample size to achieve optimal information size. This is important as various guidelines and evidence-informed decisions are taken by these trials.