Efficiently Accessing the Evidence for Dental Practitioners

This preconference workshop was designed to introduce the evidence-based dentistry (EBD) Champions to resources available for accessing dental evidence and to provide hands-on searching to begin to develop the necessary skills to efficiently access the best, most current research for clinical decision making. This presentation focused on 2 different approaches for accessing evidence for practice. Strategy 1 focused on using synthesized research, including systematic reviews, EBD article reviews, and critical summaries. Strategy 2 focused on using the PubMed Clinical Queries feature, “Find Systematic Reviews” to search for synthesized research, ie, systematic reviews, EBD articles, and meta-analyses. Although not discussed in the preconference session, PubMed also provides access to individual research studies, such as individual randomized controlled trials.