The second edition of this classic textbook should be required reading for undergraduate and graduate students alike. It prepares readers for the daunting task of identifying and accessing the information they need in the dental literature, reading it from a critical vantage point, and applying formal rules and measurements to assess the soundness of the author’s conclusions. The author introduces issues of logic, statistics, measurement, research design, and argument and explores their specific application in dental research reports. Featuring new chapters on scientific rhetoric and a guide to the dental literature, as well as significantly expanded chapters on statistics, this completely revised edition is ideal for anyone who wishes to become a more discerning reader of dental literature.

This title supports evidence-based dentistry and includes 38 critical thinking exercises.

Donald Maxwell Brunette, PhD (Medical Biophysics)
A professor in the Department of Oral Biological and Medical Sciences and a former associate dean of Research and Graduate Studies in the Faculty of Dentistry, University of British Columbia. A founding member of the Medical Research Council (Canada) Group in periodontal physiology directed by Prof A.H. Melcher at the University of Toronto, Prof Brunette has published more than 90 articles in refereed journals and has won awards from the International Association of Dental Research, Association of Canadian Faculties of Dentistry (W.W. Wood Award for Excellence in Dental Education), and the American Medical Writers Association (for the first edition of Critical Thinking). His research encompasses several fields, including citation analysis and clinical studies of breath odor, but mainly concerns cell-biomaterial interactions. He serves as a consultant to three biomaterials-related journals as well as the American Dental Association's Council on Scientific Affairs, and he has been a member, chair, or scientific officer of grant evaluation committees of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research as well as the National Science Foundation (USA).