Dental Hygiene: Evidence-Based Process

There are 4 steps to the evidence based practice process: 

1. Assess the situation

2. Ask the question

3. Acquire the information

4. Appaise the evidence

ASSESS the patient and the situation

A clinical problem arises out of patient care.  It is noticed by the health professional so that it can be addressed.

ASK the clinical question

Every evidenced-based question starts out here, at asking the clinical question.

There are 4 parts to the clinical question.  These are:

P - Problem

I - Intervention

C - Comparison

O - Outcome

So, look at this clinical scenario and decide on the clinical question to be asked.

Clinical Scenario:  Your patient, Liz, comes to you for her twice annual cleaning.  You notice wear on Liz's teeth and ask her if she grinds her teeth, especially at night.  Does she clench her teeth?  Is she often stressed?  Liz answers that life is stressful but she hasn't noticed grinding or clenching at night.  She also adds that she feels pain in her jaw when she wakes up in the morning sometimes.  You mention that this could be another sign of bruxism, which is also known as teeth grinding.   You assess the situation and suggest that a night guard could be the answer to the problem, but you need to check the literature first.  

P - grinding and wear on teeth

I - wearing a night guard

C - not wearing a night guard

0 - prevention of grinding and wear on teeth

Well-built Clinical Question:  In patients present with evidence of bruxism, will wearing a night guard prevent further wear of teeth and grinding?

ACQUIRE the evidence for your clinical question

During this part of the Evidence based practice process, you acquire or search for information for your question. 

Below are some places which will give you good evidence for questions:

APPRAISE the evidence

During this phase, elvauate the evidence or researh found by asking questions:

• Are the results of the study valid?
• How sensitive or specifc are the results?