EBD champions hone their skills at second conference

There was “a fervor” to get the job done at the second annual EBD Champions Conference last month.

That’s because when it comes to spreading the word about evidence-based dentistry, there’s no better place to start than with dentists themselves.

These passionate leaders act as funnels of information for the profession and on May 29-30, more than 100 such conduits gathered at ADA Headquarters.

“The conference was fantastic in giving me more tools and seeing what others are doing,” said Dr. David Gesko, a Minneapolis general dentist. “I have a renewed fervor to spread the word.”

ADA President John Findley told the group how grateful the Association was for their attendance. “It’s tremendously important to the patients,” he said. “It’s tremendously important to oral health care and we appreciate what you do.”

Dentists representing all fields, including clinicians, educators and public health, attended the event, which was co-sponsored by the Journal of Evidence-Based Practice and supported by an educational grant from Procter & Gamble Co.

“Dentistry as a profession has accumulated a wealth of information, whether it is derived from the clinical experience of our providers, randomized controlled studies, retrospective studies, prospective research, case reports, expert panels, expert councils, academia, or research supported by government agencies or the oral health care industry,” said Dr. Dan Meyer, ADA senior vice president, science/professional relations. “Coupled with the new EBD Web site, the ADA Library and professional organizations, conferences such as these give us the relevant tools to share our respective knowledge with not only our dental but also our medical colleagues, patients and the public to help improve health outcomes.”

The conference aimed at getting EBD out into the dental community. The participants are called champions because they spread the word about EBD, each of them taking the evidence-based knowledge and passing it on to their peers.

Across the span of two days, the champions mixed with other dentists and dental educators who share similar passion for the profession during panel discussions, question-and-answer sessions and team workshops using evidence-based scenarios.

The conference also provided participants with tools to promote, support, network and disseminate evidence-based research with other health professionals.

Dr. Philippe Hujoel, of the University of Washington School of Dentistry and a member of the ADA Council on Scientific Affairs, gave examples of evidence and urged attendees to “formulate a question” in order not to be misled when using systematic reviews. These reviews, which identify and evaluate all of the evidence gathered to answer specific clinical questions, serve as the backbone of EBD.

“Framing the question is one of the most important steps of an evidence-based approach,” Dr. Hujoel said. “An EBD clinician needs to鈥攂efore assessing the evidence鈥攄etermine whether a question is framed to favor the insurance company, the stockholder, the career of an academician, a professional organization or some other stakeholder with interests that may differ from those of the patient or consumer. Finding a solution to this riddle is not always easy.”

Additionally, participants were assigned to different workshop groups where they tackled such issues as topical fluoride and sealants in adult patients. In each discussion, the group addressed the factors they would consider when making treatment decisions and how they would communicate them. For the topical fluoride group, the champions discussed how to decide between three- and six-month intervals for high-risk patients and during the sealants discussion, the group talked about treatment decisions for high-caries risk patients.

“It’s exciting to see the momentum that is building for evidence-based practice鈥攖his conference is a great example of that,” said Dr. Gesko, a general dentist who also serves as dental director for HealthPartners, a group practice of some 60 dentists in Minneapolis/St. Paul.

Prior to the two-day conference, the ADA Center for Evidence-Based Dentistry hosted a pre-conference workshop to introduce newcomers to the EBD process, including hands-on instructions for using the computer to identify the most current and the best available scientific evidence.

In March, the Association launched the Evidence-Based Dentistry Web site, which features a database of systematic reviews, clinical recommendations that provide evidence-based guidance on how current scientific evidence may be applied to patient care as well as a section where dentists can suggest clinical ideas. This new feature is open to oral health professionals worldwide and strives to provide dentists with access to information they need to make clinical decisions in a concise, user-friendly format.

“The democratization of medical and dental information combined with an information explosion has made it more鈥攏ot less鈥攃hallenging for dental care providers to assess and grade the reliability of the evidence. By having the ADA organize the EBD conference, the ADA is providing practicing clinicians with the tools to navigate this information overload and make informed decisions on what is best for their patients,” Dr. Hujoel said.

Added Dr. Meyer, “As the word continues to spread about EBD, hopefully the conference will continue to grow. This conference was a great example of why EBD is so important to the profession.”

All participants received continuing education credit. For more information about the conference or about EBD in general, visit “http://ebd.ada.org/” or call the toll-free number, Ext. 2519.聽