Evidence Based Dentistry

The American Dental Association defines evidence based dentistry as:

"an approach to oral health care 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."

EBD integrates: 

the dentist's expertise, 

the best available scientific evidence, 

and the patient's needs and preferences.

The EBD process is a structured approach to identifying and using the best information relevant to a particular clinical problem. It follows these 5 steps:

1. Question
   Articulate a clear question based on the patient's clinical problem.
2. Find
   Conduct a comprehensive search for the latest relevant research
3. Appraise
   Critically assess the evidence
4. Act
   Use the best identified valid and relevant evidence in patient care
5. Evaluate
   Assess how well the previous steps worked