Evidence Based Practice in Public Health Dentistry

The world in which we learn and practice dentistry is changing at an astonishing rate. Two phenomena ¿ the information explosion and the consumer movement, both of which are fortified by the extraordinary advance of the Internet ¿ are coming together to change the way all businesses, including health care, will function in the very near future. The nature of the relationship between the patient and the clinician is changing. Patients are becoming partners in the decision-making process. Evidence-based care is a global movement in all the health science disciplines. It represents a philosophical shift in the approach to practice ¿ a shift that emphasizes evidence over opinion and, at the same time, judgment over blind adherence to rules. This approach provides a bridge between research and everyday patient care.