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| EDITORIAL |
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| Year : 2017 | Volume
: 7
| Issue : 1 | Page : 3 |
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Evidence based Dental Practice—need of an hour
GP Sujatha
Editor-in-Chief, Professor Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Bapuji Dental College and Hospital, Davangere, Karnataka, India
| Date of Web Publication | 3-Jul-2017 |
Correspondence Address:
G P Sujatha
Editor-in-Chief, Professor Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Bapuji Dental College and Hospital, Davangere, Karnataka
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/ijohs.ijohs_23_17
How to cite this article:
Sujatha G P. Evidence based Dental Practice—need of an hour. Int J Oral Health Sci 2017;7:3 |
Dear Alumnus,
Dentist is one of the pivotal health-care providers in the society. The recent advances in the technological and biomedical research have influenced the fields of dentistry in imparting the quality treatment to the patients. The ideal treatment plan would be based on the best available scientific evidence along with the clinical expertise. This is nothing but the practice of Evidence-based Dentistry.
Dr. David Sackett defines the Evidence-Based Practice as “the conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of the individual patient. It means integrating individual clinical expertise with the best available external clinical evidence from systematic research.” Clinical expertise refers to the clinician's cumulated experience, education, and clinical skills.[1] This necessitates a health-care provider to be a critical analyzer of the available scientific literature.
The literature is the strongest resource that helps in clinical decision making and helps incorporate evidence gained through scientific investigation into patient care. The available electronic database like PubMed/Medline have a significant role to play in implementation of the evidence-based practice. There is a virtual “information explosion” on new therapies, techniques, and materials in the field of dentistry and also there is an increased consumer understanding of treatment possibilities and therapeutic outcomes. This makes the dental profession a challenging one in providing the best possible dental care for patients. The practice of evidence-based Dentistry will enable the dentist to provide best and authenticated dental care.
Some of the barriers for evidence-based practice include the negative attitude toward research, challenges with critically appraisal and perceived the lack of time to search for best practice. The best practitioner should always be self-directed learner and be updated with the current practice to provide patient centered care and to identifies himself/herself in the interdisciplinary team.[2]
| References | |  |
| 1. | Faggion CM Jr., Tu YK. Evidence-based dentistry: A model for clinical practice. J Dent Educ 2007;71:825-31.  |
| 2. | Melnyk, B., Fineout-Overholt, E. Evidence-based practice in Nursing and Health care. 2 nd ed.: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. 2011. |
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