Concepts determining statistical analysis of dental data.

This paper reviews some approaches to statistical analysis of dental data. Often dental data consist of more than one observation per patient which may not be independent, and consequently some standard statistical methods based on independence of all observations are inappropriate. This paper seeks to make the dental researcher and the consulting statistician aware of some of the efficient approaches that can be used to analyse the data successfully. No specialist statistical knowledge is assumed. Rather the goal is to increase awareness of what can be done. The statistical layman is introduced to some basic concepts, while references are given for the mathematically-minded reader. The data of Pack, Coxhead and McDonald is used as a springboard for this discussion.