CE0933: Evidence-Based Dentistry

Philippe Hujoel, DDS, MS, MSD, PhD

Course Description:

In an evidence-based world 2 + 2 equals 4, not 5 or 3.  Unfortunately, assessing medical or dental evidence is more challenging than checking a simple addition.  How should one judge the claim of the Food and Drug Administration that dental floss is a device intended “to reduce tooth decay” when the available clinical trial evidence suggests no such beneficial effect? In 1992, the term evidence-based was introduced into the mainstream clinical literature.

But what does the term ‘evidence-based’ mean?  More importantly, how can an evidence-based approach to dental practice improve patient outcomes? The goal of this course is provide an introduction to an evidence-based approach to the diagnosis, etiology, and treatment of dental diseases.

Course Objectives:

• Diagnosis: Learn about snails and evangelists, how more diagnostic information can sometimes harm patients, and how different professional organizations can advocate conflicting guidelines on issues such as oral cancer screening.
• Etiology: Beliefs on the etiology of dental diseases can color all subsequent treatment decisions. Learn how to judge evidence on the causes of dental diseases and how it could impact treatment decisions.
• Treatment: A recent newspaper article co-authored by John Kerry and Newt Gingrich suggested that medical care should be driven by robust “systematic, evidence-based reviews of medical literature”. Learn how to recognize such robust evidence versus evidence resulting from studies by marketing departments.

Instructor:

PHILIPPE HUJOEL has been involved in the area of Evidence-Based Dentistry since its inception. He was a founding Senior Associate Editor of the Journal of Evidence-Based Dental Practice and served on the ADA Council on Evidence-Based Dentistry and the Council of Scientific Affairs. He was a recent recipient of the IADR Distinguished Scientist Award and continues active participation in the development of evidence-based guidelines for professional and governmental organizations. His educational background includes specialty training in periodontics (MSD from the UW), biostatistics (MS from UM), and epidemiology (PhD from the UW). He spends one day per week in a periodontal practice.

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University of Washington is an ADA CERP Recognized Provider.	The University of Washington is an ACDE member.
ADA CERP is a service of the American Dental Association to assist dental professionals in identifying quality providers of continuing dental education. ADA CERP does not approve or endorse individual courses or instructors, nor does it imply acceptance of credit hours by boards of dentistry.
University of Washington designates this activity for 7 continuing education credits.