STATISTICAL ISSUES IN PERIODONTAL RESEARCH

In the past 10 to 12 years, there have been several statistical issues identified in periodontal research which require and have generated n on-standard or new statistical approaches. The purpose of this paper i s to give an overview of these issues and approaches. Three general ca tegories of issues are described: (i) statistical methods for detectin g when disease progression occurs, and biological theories and corresp onding statistical models which attempt to describe how the disease pr ogresses; (ii) design issues in studies of therapeutic efficacy; and ( iii) analytic issues arising from periodontal data analysis.