Muhammad Ashraf Nazir, Khalid Almas.
Knowledge and practice of evidence-based dentistry among dental professionals: an appraisal of three dental colleges from Lahore — Pakistan.
Pak Oral Dental J Jan ;35(3):466-71.

Evidence-based Dentistry (EBD) is a common approach in Dentistry particularly in developed nations. However, there is scarcity of data about the knowledge and practice of EBD among dental professionals in Pakistan. The objective was explore the knowledge and practice of EBD by evaluating awareness, attitudes and barriers to its implementation by interns and faculty members from various dental colleges in Pakistan. The study was a cross sectional survey. Self-administrated questionnaires were distributed among 120 male and female interns and faculty members working at three dental colleges in Lahore, Pakistan. Ethical approval was obtained from respective institutes. Informed consents were obtained from the participants before administering questionnaires among them. SPSS 20.0 was used for data analysis. Descriptive statistics included frequency distribution of various responses. Cross tabulation performed to determine odds ratio. Logistic regression analysis was performed to assess the association between practice of EBD and various factors. A 95% confidence interval was used to determined statistical significance. Ninety one subjects completed questionnaires with a response rate of 76%. Sixty five percent of participants were females, and age ranged from 22 to 55 years. The 52.7% of the respondents reported that they applied EBD in ordering tests or treatment, 24.2% attended EBD course or workshop, and 48.4% regularly read journals. Regarding the components of EBD, only one respondent correctly identified three components. About 26.4% responded that systematic review provides the strongest evidence and 54% identified no access to EBD resources a major barrier to using EBD in clinical practice. EBD not applicable to culture was judged by 39.6% of the respondents, 49.5% agreed that patients were willing to get involved in clinical decision making, and 34.1% reported that only 10% of their patients were capable of participating in clinical decision making. Multivariate logistic regression final model showed that year since graduation was strongly associated with practice of EBD (OR=4.68 CI=1.83-11.97). Almost half of the respondents claimed to practice EBD; only one of them was aware of three components of EBD. There is need to incorporate concepts of EBD in undergraduate dental curriculum and EBD workshops and seminars should be organized for dental professionals on regular bases.

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