The building blocks of evidence-based dentistry.

The practice of dentistry is becoming more complex and challenging. Changing socio-demographic patterns, patients as knowledgeable health care consumers, rapid technical advances and the information "explosion" all place greater demands on clinical decision making. The need for reliable information and the electronic revolution have come together to allow the "paradigm shift" towards evidence-based health care to progress swiftly. Evidence-based dentistry closes the gap between clinical research and real world dental practice and provides dentists with powerful tools to interpret and apply research findings. Central to evidence-based practice is the systematic literature review, which synthesizes the best evidence and provides the basis for clinical practice guidelines.