title: The question.
abstract: This exercise of isolating the strongest article from the found titles should take no more than 1 to 2 minutes. Thus, the whole process of searching for the best evidence should take no more than 5 minutes. In medical practices where evidence based practice is done routinely, this process can be completed in less than 1 minute. Obviously, the evaluation could not have been made as expeditiously without the benefit of the specific details articulated in the question. The question focused the search terms and expedited the identification of the strongest evidence that directly addressed the patient's problem from among the found titles. It provided the dentist with good (but not compelling) evidence to support an answer to the patient. It also provided the dentist with a new piece of information to use the next time the problem of reduced implant support comes up. The dentist has thus enjoyed the satisfaction of quickly identifying new knowledge and the confidence that comes with its use. In addition, the information has provided the dentist with a small but important block against the deterioration of clinical judgment skills.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. jim.anderson@utoronto.ca
authors.forename: James D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Anderson
mesh_terms: D018865:Dental Research; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D006801:Humans; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval; D012107:Research Design