Journal of Advanced Clinical & Research Insights (2014), 1, 114–119 114 Journal of Advanced Clinical & Research Insights ● Vol. 1:3 ● Nov-Dec 2014 REVIEW ARTICLE Evidence-based dentistry: A new dimension in oral health H. N. Santosh 1 , Tejavathi Nagaraj 1 , Aditi Bose 2 , Pooja Sinha 1 , I. P. Mahalaksmi 1 1 Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Sri Rajiv Gandhi College of Dental Sciences, Cholanagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India, 2 Department of Periodontology, Sri Rajiv Gandhi College of Dental Sciences, Cholanagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India Abstract The success of evidence-based medicine depends on the integration of the best research evidence. It is a blend of our patient’s unique values and circumstances with our clinical expertise. Evidence-based dentistry is a new paradigm in medicine, meaning that a therapy should be based on evidence gathered from scientific studies, preferentially based on randomized clinical trials involving a substantial number of patients. There are three main inter-related aspects to the practice of oral medicine. They are clinical care, research, learning, and teaching. Most of the oral diseases are complex, chronic problems that do not have definitive etiology. Many diagnostic tests are costly and need to be critically evaluated for their sensitivity, specificity and cost benefits analysis. Most treatment protocols are opinion based, and prognosis of many oral diseases is difficult to predict. Hence, practice of evidence-based health care in oral medicine will definitely be helpful when clinical decisions are made. Keywords Evidence based dentistry, meta-analysis, oral medicine, randomized control trial Correspondence Dr. H. N. Santosh, Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Sri Rajiv Gandhi College of Dental Sciences, Cholanagar, RT Nagar Post, Bengaluru - 560 032, Karnataka, India. Phone: +91-9448721428, Email: drhnsantosh29@yahoo.co.in Received 04 July 2014; Accepted 15 September 2014 doi: 10.15713/ins.jcri.29 Introduction Evidence-based dentistry (EBD) is a new paradigm in medicine, meaning that a therapy should be based on evidence gathered from scientific studies, preferentially based on randomized clinical trials involving a substantial number of patients. As good as this sounds in theory, it is not always easy to apply in daily practice. The foundation for evidence-based practice was laid by David Sackett who has defined it as “integrating individual clinical expertise with the best available external clinical evidence from systematic research.”  How to use EBD? [1] 1. Create an answerable question 2. Track down the best evidence to answer the question 3. Critically appraise the information 4. Apply the results to one’s patients 5. Evaluate one’s performance. Several points have to be addressed in order to apply EBD in dental practice:  Dentists have to learn to manage the available amount of scientific literature in an efficient way  Literature has to be available also for those who cannot easily read and understand articles written in a foreign language and full of specific jargon (for instance statistical terms)  Scientific evidence is very fragmented, and synoptic articles are not available for all aspects of dental practice. Not all aspects of dental practice can be easily examined by a randomized clinical trial for ethical or logistic reasons. In many dental offices quality management to measure the outcome of the own therapy is not available. However, all efforts should be undertaken to orient dental practice from a mechanistic tradecraft-oriented activity to one based on scientific reasoning and critical self-reflection. The success of evidence-based medicine (EBM) depends on the integration of the best research evidence. It is a blend of our patient’s unique values and circumstances with our clinical expertise. The American Dental Association (ADA) defines the term “EBD” as follows: EBD is an approach to oral health care needs of the patients 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. Evidence-based practice has been defined as the practice of dentistry that assists in clinical decision making by integrating the best available evidences with clinical experience and what a patient prefer (Figure 1).