Table 5.
Certainty of evidence for continuous data
| Participants (RCTs ) | Risk of bias | Inconsistency | Indirectness | Imprecision | Other considerations | Overall certainty | Study event rates (%) | Anticipated absolute effects a | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rotary | Reciprocating | ||||||||
| 142 (2) | 6 h | ||||||||
| serious a | serious b | serious c | very serious d,e | strong association | Very low | 71 | 71 | SMD 0.26 SD higher (0.5 lower to 1.03 higher) | |
| 390 (3) | 12 h | ||||||||
| not serious | serious b | not serious | serious d | strong association | Moderate | 195 | 195 | SMD 0.32 SD higher (0.14 lower to 0.78 higher) | |
| 782 (10) | 24 h | ||||||||
| serious f | not serious | not serious | not serious | strong association | High | 402 | 380 | SMD 0.25 higher (0.06 higher to 0.44 higher) | |
| 599 (4) | 48 h | ||||||||
| not serious | serious b | not serious | not serious | strong association | High | 311 | 288 | SMD 0.31 SD higher (0.04 lower to 0.66 higher) | |
| 519 (6) | 72 h | ||||||||
| not serious | very serious b,g | very serious h,i | serious e | none | Very low | 271 | 248 | SMD 0.5 higher (0.24 lower to 1.24 higher) | |
SMD: Standardized mean difference; a: All included studies presented high risk of bias; b: Substantial or considerable heterogeneity; c: Meta-analysis included only one pulp condition; d: Total number of participants is less than 400; e: Upper or lower confidence limit crosses the effect size is greater than 0.5 in either direction