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Evidence-Based Dentistry: ACQUIRE

Created by Health Science Librarians

Evidence-Based Dentistry eBook

Where to Go When You Need to Know

Search for Synthesized or Filtered Information

Step 1: Determine if there is a guideline or evidence summary addresses your question.

Study Design Definition Resources to Consult
Guidelines

"Developed by an expert panel, clinical practice guidelines critically appraise, summarize, and interpret recent and relevant clinical evidence to provide recommendations that can be applied to patient care" (American Dental Association).

Also referred to as: clinical guideline, clinical practice guideline.

  1. Epistemonikos
  2. Trip
  3. Dynamed

Step 2: If no guideline addresses your question, search for a meta-analysis or systematic review.

Study Design Definition Resources to Consult
Meta-analysis Meta-analysis is the statistical combination of results from two or more separate studies. They are systematic reviews taken one step further by pooling, or combining, the data of similar studies to improve precision, to answer questions not posed by individual studies, or to settle controversies from conflicting studies (Cochrane Handbook of Systematic Reviews.
  1. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
  2. PubMed
  3. Epistimonikos
Systematic Review A systematic review is a literature review that gathers all of the available evidence matching pre-specified eligibility criteria to answer a specific research question. It uses explicit, systematic methods, documented in a protocol, to minimize bias, provide reliable findings, and inform decision-making (Cochrane Handbook of Systematic Reviews.
  1. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
  2. PubMed
  3. Epistimonikos

Search for Primary Studies

Step 3: If unable to locate a guideline, meta-analysis or systematic review that addresses your question, then search for primary studies by clinical question type. Follow the evidence pyramid for study design preference.

Type of Question/Need Resources to Consult
Therapy/Prevention (General)
  1. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
  2. Trip
  3. PubMed
Therapy/Prevention (Drug Therapy)
  1. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
  2. Trip
  3. Embase
  4. PubMed
Harm/Etiology
  1. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
  2. Trip
  3. PubMed
Diagnosis
  1. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
  2. Trip
  3. PubMed
Prognosis
  1. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
  2. Trip
  3. PubMed
Rarely or newly published topic
  1. Google Scholar
  2. Scopus (Consider performing forward citation searches in Scopus and/or Google Scholar.)
  3. Gray literature

Adapted from Stellrecht, E & Booth HA. (2019). Searching for the best oral health evidence: strategies, tips, and resources. In: Carrasco-Labra A, Brignardello-Petersen R, Glick M, Azarpazhooh A, & Guyatt G, eds.  How to Use Evidence-Based Dental Practices to Improve Clinical Decision-Making. American Dental Association.

 

Evidence Pyramid

 

Guidelines

Articles and Theses

More information on searching Cochrane Library can be found here.

More information on searching PubMed can be found here.

Tips for limiting PubMed results by study design:

  • Meta-analysis
  1. Enter search words for the clinical question
  2. On the results page, select Meta-Analysis under Article Types in the left-hand filters sidebar
  • Systematic Reviews
  1. Enter search words for the clinical question
  2. On the results page, select Systematic Reviews under Article Types in the left-hand filters sidebar
  • Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT)
  1. Enter search words for the clinical question
  2. On the results page, select Randomized Controlled Trial under Article Types in the left-hand filters sidebar
  • Cohort Studies
  1. Enter search words for the clinical question
  2. Add Cohort Studies[MeSH] to the search words
  • Case-Control Studies
  1. Enter search terms for the clinical question
  2. Add Case-Control Studies[Mesh] to the search words

More information on searching Embase can be found here.

More information on searching CINAHL can be found here.

More information on searching Scopus can be found here.

Search Worksheet and Search Example