DEBTs in the EBD journal

You may be aware of papers in the EBD journal called DEBTs - or Dental Evidence-based Topics.

The idea is that you as a clinician or student will have a clinical question. You might wonder if you should be putting adhesive under fissure sealants or not, how best to treat caries in deciduous teeth or how long a posterior resin-bonded bridge is likely to last.

In order to arrive at a (hopefully) more informed position you then search for research evidence that could help using the PICO structure to guide you as discussed elsewhere in this blog.

It's important to think about what research would best inform your decision - it may not always be randomised controlled trials.

Having found what evidence there is, you then need to critically-appraise it and summarise whether the evidence you have found is valid internally and externally, and how it informs you in trying to answer your clinical question.

If well conducted the journal will publish these DEBTs because they bring the latest level of clinical evidence to the notice of other clinicians, who may well be wondering about the same clinical problem.

Any students who would like to have a go and get a publication to their name, feel free to drop me a note.