Evidence-based techniques to assess the performance of dental implants.

The clinical use of evidence-based medicine has been regarded as one of the most significant medical advancements of the last century. As the costs of medical care escalate, clinical decisions have to be made prudently and with a high degree of efficacy. One of the most expensive treatments in dentistry includes the use of dental implants to rehabilitate partial and fully edentulous patients. Due to the high costs of treatments and the ever increasing varieties of dental implants becoming available, the clinician is often faced with a challenging situation to decide the best prostheses for their patients. Furthermore, navigating through the vast database of literature pertaining to dental implants and their related research can be very time consuming and challenging to a dental surgeon before they can make appropriate clinical decisions. Similar to other orthopedic implants, dental implants need to be evaluated for their long-term efficacy in vivo before they are clinically acceptable. In order to help clinician(s) make patient oriented decisions, evidence-based techniques are becoming increasingly popular. This can be a very useful tool in translating research findings into clinical practice, thus narrowing the gap between research and clinical dentistry. This article discusses ways in which evidence-based techniques can help dental surgeons analyze and make informed clinical decisions about dental implant treatments.