Impact of Evidence-Based Dentistry Workshops on Educators' Use of Evidence in Teaching and Practice: A Pilot Study.

The aims of this pilot study were to evaluate the short-term impact of evidence-based dentistry (EBD) workshops on educators' use of clinical evidence in their clinical practice and educational activities and to identify barriers they encountered in implementing evidence in their teaching and clinical practice. Between April 2012 and January 2014, a series of EBD workshops was delivered to 31 dental faculty members and postdoctoral students at three Canadian dental schools. Survey I, assessing participants' perceptions of various aspects of the workshops, was administered immediately following the workshops. Survey II, evaluating the impact of the workshops on participants' EBD implementation, was conducted 10 to 31 months after their completion. Survey I was completed by all 31 participants (100% response rate); their mean scores ranged from 3.94 to 4.65 on a five-point scale. Survey II was completed by 20 participants (64.5% response rate; five postdoctoral students and 15 faculty members), using an online 20-item questionnaire. Of the respondents, 19 (95%) reported implementing EBD in their professional activities at that time, and 14 (70%) stated that the workshops had positively helped with EBD implementation. Eight respondents (40%) reported having experienced barriers to EBD implementation, while 15 (75%) reported that their patients/students welcomed use of EBD. The respondents reported believing that strategies such as increasing EBD education and dissemination and improving quality and accessibility of evidence would facilitate the transition to EBD practice. Reported barriers to EBD implementation included resistance and criticism from colleagues, difficulty in changing current practice model, and lack of time.

Diagnostic Accuracy of Cone-beam Computed Tomography and Conventional Radiography on Apical Periodontitis: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Endodontic diagnosis depends on accurate radiographic examination. Assessment of the location and extent of apical periodontitis (AP) can influence treatment planning and subsequent treatment outcomes. Therefore, this systematic review and meta-analysis assessed the diagnostic accuracy of conventional radiography and cone-beam computed tomographic (CBCT) imaging on the discrimination of AP from no lesion. METHODS: Eight electronic databases with no language or time limitations were searched. Articles in which the primary objective was to evaluate the accuracy (sensitivity and specificity) of any type of radiographic technique to assess AP in humans were selected. The gold standard was the histologic examination for actual AP (in vivo) or in situ visualization of bone defects for induced artificial AP (in vitro). Accuracy measurements described in the studies were transformed to construct receiver operating characteristic curves and forest plots with the aid of Review Manager v.5.2 (The Nordic Cochrane Centre, Copenhagen, Denmark) and MetaDisc v.1.4. software (Unit of Clinical Biostatistics Team of the Ramón y Cajal Hospital, Madrid, Spain). The methodology of the selected studies was evaluated using the Quality Assessment Tool for Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-2. RESULTS: Only 9 studies met the inclusion criteria and were subjected to a qualitative analysis. A meta-analysis was conducted on 6 of these articles. All of these articles studied artificial AP with induced bone defects. The accuracy values (area under the curve) were 0.96 for CBCT imaging, 0.73 for conventional periapical radiography, and 0.72 for digital periapical radiography. No evidence was found for panoramic radiography. CONCLUSIONS: Periapical radiographs (digital and conventional) reported good diagnostic accuracy on the discrimination of artificial AP from no lesions, whereas CBCT imaging showed excellent accuracy values.