Evidence-Based Dentistry: A Paradigm Shift

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In the past, health care managers tended to focus on cost and quality, thus “doing things right” and leaving “doing the right things” to other forces and chance. This situation is rapidly changing and everyone involved in decision making must use evidence to enable them to make decisions about “doing the right things.” These skills are necessary for provision of health care in the 21st century .
INTRODUCTION
Evidence-based medicine (EBM) has been described as “the conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of current best evidence in making decision about the care of individual patients” . Evidence-Based Practice is a thoughtful integration of the best available evidence, coupled with clinical expertise. It enables one to address healthcare questions with an evaluative and qualitative approach. It is about applying the best available research evidence in provision of health, behavior and education services to enhance outcomes. Evidence-Based practice is about performing the best possible practice in order to provide the best possible care .
Nowadays the practice of dentistry is becoming more challenging and complex because of the information explosion regarding dental materials and equipment, increasing need for continuous professional development and an increasingly litigious society. Hence there has been a paradigm shift towards evidence-based healthcare .
Evidence-based dentistry has been gaining even more importance in recent years in order to reduce the gap between clinical research and actual dental practice. It aims at the systematic literature review which collects the best evidence and forms the basis for clinical practice guidelines. Clinical research, which is the basis for EBD, allows us to make decisions about causes of and treatments for disease, while allowing for the natural differences between people.

NEED FOR EVIDENCE-BASED

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