Teaching evidence-based practice at the University of Texas Dental Branch at Houston

This brief report outlines the current curriculum for evidence-based practice at The University of Texas Dental Branch at Houston (UTDB). This curriculum is now based on the American Dental Association's Commission on Dental Accreditation 2010 Accreditation Standards for Dental Education Programs. Evidence-based practice is introduced to students in the first-year curriculum. Students learn to be clinically effective through use of the components of evidence-based practice, information search and retrieval, critical thinking (appraisal), and through information resource evaluation and then application to the patient or population. Planned innovations in curriculum include further implementation of evidence-based decision-making in clinical courses, including development of the clinical prescription as a means of demonstrating competence in asking and answering clinical questions, and of the portfolio as a means of demonstrating overall competence.