Forsyth Institute To Hold First Comprehensive Evidence-based Dentistry Conference

The first comprehensive U.S. conference on Evidence-Based Dentistry will be held at The Forsyth Institute in Boston from January 10-18, 2003.

The conference, sponsored by the Forsyth Center for Evidence-Based Dentistry, will offer two days of symposia followed by workshops covering the methods of evidence-based dentistry.

Central questions to be addressed include: With the increasing pace of clinical research, why does it often take two decades before new knowledge is integrated into clinical practice? How can the time be shortened? And how can students, faculty and clinicians be educated more effectively?

The conference is unusual because it will focus on implementation rather than theory, according to Richard Niederman, DMD, Director of the Forsyth Center and the conference organizer. Workshop participants will learn how to find the best evidence for diagnosis, treatment, and etiology of a wide range of dental problems, and will be presented with guidelines for systematic reviews.

The conference will be attended by dental professionals, educators and insurers, and by representatives from trade, manufacturing and clinical associations.

At the conference, the results of major reviews of the efficacy of two widely-used consumer dental products will be announced.

Symposia
Keynote speakers at symposia, January 10-12, will include:
Dr. Muir Gray, Regional Director of Public Health for Oxford, England, who is responsible for bringing evidence-based health care to the National Health Service of the United Kingdom.
Dr. Joseph Lau, Professor of Medicine and Co-Director of the Evidence-Based Practice Center at Tufts University. Dr. Lau developed meta-analysis, a method for aggregating the results of numerous clinical findings.

Workshops
Following the symposia, hands-on workshops will provide participants with an opportunity to solve current problems in a small-group, mentored, environment.
A two-day introductory workshop, January 13-14, will provide an overview of the five basic, evidence-based steps needed to assess information.
A five-day intensive workshop, January 13-18, will apply the basic elements of evidence-based dentistry to diagnosis, therapy, systematic review, guidelines and other topics directly related to such current issues as clinical implementation.

Conference organizers are: Richard Niederman, DMD, director of the Forsyth Center for Evidence-Based Dentistry; Michael Newman, DDS, professor at the University of California at Los Angeles and editor of Evidence-Based Dental Practice; Debora Matthews, DDS, Chair of Periodontology at Dalhousie University, and for the Canadian Collaboration for Clinical Practice Guidelines in Dentistry; and Derek Richards, BDS, Director of the Oxford Center for Evidence-Based Dentistry and editor of Evidence-Based Dentistry.

More information is available at www.forsyth.org/ebd .