Evidence-based dentistry

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Evidence-based dentistry" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (April 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Evidence-based dentistry (EBD) is the dental part of the more general movement toward evidence-based medicine and other evidence-based practices. The pervasive access to information on the internet includes different aspects of dentistry for both the dentists and patients. This has created a need to ensure that evidence referenced to are valid, reliable and of good quality.^[1]

Evidence-based dentistry has become more prevalent than ever, as information, derived from high-quality, evidence-based research is made available to clinicians and patients in clinical guidelines. By formulating evidence-based best-practice clinical guidelines that practitioners can refer to with simple chairside and patient-friendly versions, this need can be addressed.

Evidence-based dentistry has been defined by the American Dental Association (ADA) as "an approach to oral healthcare that requires the judicious integration of systematic assessments of clinically relevant scientific evidence, relating to the patient's oral and medical condition and history, with the dentist's clinical expertise and the patient's treatment needs and preferences."^[2]

Three main pillars or principles^[3] exist in evidence-based dentistry. The three pillars are defined as:

• Relevant scientific evidence
• Patient needs and preferences
• Clinician's expertise                  

The use of high-quality research to establish the guidelines for best practices defines evidence-based practice. In essence, evidence-based dentistry requires clinicians to remain constantly updated on current techniques and procedures so that patients can continuously receive the best treatment possible.