Knowledge, Awareness and Percieved Barriers Towards Evidence Based Dentistry Among Dental Post Graduate Students-A Questionnaire Based Study.

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Almost dentists would find it quite difficult to keep informed and stay on ahead of all the updates. Consequently, several approaches have been proposed for updating, EBP is one of them. Evidence-based practice (EBP) helps close the gap between clinical treatment and best advanced practices Evidence based dental practice is considered as the best current approach in providing a quality dental care to the patient by assessing the scientifically proven evidence which is safe, efficient and cost effective. AIM: To evaluate the awareness, knowledge and the perceived barriers towards the practicing of evidence based dental practice among the post graduate students. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a questionnaire based cross-sectional study. 107 students were participated. A self-administered questionnaire was prepared and validated which included 20 questions. The questions were about the basic concepts, terms used and perceived barriers in EBD. RESULTS: 96.26% respondents were aware of EBD. 25.23% stated that systematic reviews are at the apex of the pyramid. 29.9% of the respondents correctly identified the 3 components of EBD. 35.5% respondents opted for printed source and 64.4% chose electronic source. 83.17% of the respondents believed that EBDP will improve the quality of dental care. 87.8% believed EBDP helps in clinical decision making. Only 10.2% of the students only practicing EBDP in their routine basis. 84.11 % of the students were facing difficulties in practicing EBDP. 75,7% of the respondents taught it was useful if incorporated into the undergraduate curriculum. CONCLUSION: The post graduate students were very much aware of the terms used in the EBDP but somewhat had poor knowledge regarding components, concepts of EBDP. The implementation of EBDP as well as evaluating the research was also very low in their daily routine clinical setting. There is need of conducting seminars or workshops or conferences regarding application of EBD for them.