Landscape of dental trials registered in clinical trials registry-India

Background: Evidence-based practice requires clinical trials to be conducted including dental research. In India, if any clinical trial is to be conducted, it is expected to be registered with the Clinical Trials Registry–India (CTRI) as mandated by regulatory bodies, ethics committees, and journal editors. Aims and Objective: The present study has been undertaken to assess the type and trends of dental clinical trials being registered with CTRI over a span of 9 years. Methodology: For this, dental/dentistry trials were extracted using the keyword “dentistry” from the Study Type section of the CTRI (www.ctri.nic.in). Results: The dental trials registration started from just 8 trials in the year 2011 and it has now reached to 400–500 trials from various dentistry disciplines per year. While the registration trends reflect an increase in the number of dental trials registered in CTRI over the years, the number of trials being submitted is low. Conclusion: This indicates the need for greater awareness and dissemination at the grassroots level including students and researchers. There is no dearth of dental research and academic institutions in India and the combined efforts of all stakeholders will not only enhance the dental trials registration numbers but also improve the standard of dental research in the country.