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Evidence-Based Dentistry: Asking the Clinical Question

Asking a Clinical Question?

Developing and asking a clinical question is the first step in the Evidence-Based Dentistry process.  There are two types of questions background questions and foreground questions. 

Background questions ask for general knowledge about a topic.  It answers the who, what, where, when, and how.  Textbooks are the best source for answers to background questions. 

Examples of a background questions:

  • What is necrotizing gingivitis?
  • At what age are jaw bones fully grown?

Foreground questions are more specific than background questions.  They usually address a specific patient or clinical scenario.  PICO is a framework that is used to develop foreground or clinical questions asked in Evidence-Based Dentistry.

Examples of foreground questions

  • Does giving toddlers milk instead of water to drink at night cause caries?
  • How useful is a periapical radiograph in detecting interproximal caries?

What is PICO?

PICO is the framework that a is followed to construct a clinical question.  Here are the elements of PICO.

 

 

 

 

 

Types of questions and how to phrase them using PICO elements