Stumbling into the age of evidence.

This article presents personal observations on how the concept of evidence-based dentistry is faring in the profession. It considers how the dental profession's concept of evidence has matured, how evidence-based dentistry was originally envisioned, how it is currently embodied, and what its prospects might be for the immediate future. Evidence-based dentistry began in the profession approximately 2 decades ago, initiated by the appearance of the first systematic reviews on dental topics in the late 1980s. The emergence of the concept of evidence-based dentistry--and its fundamental construct, the systematic review--marks what can be considered a fundamental shift in how the dental knowledge base has grown and developed over time.