Dental Students' Knowledge, Attitude, and Confidence toward Evidence-based Dentistry: A 5-year Retrospective Study

The purpose was to assess dental students' knowledge, attitude, and confidence toward evidence-based dentistry in five graduating Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) classes. All dental students (class of 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023) enrolled in the D3 research design course were required to take a pre-Knowledge, Attitude, and Confidence in Evidence-based Dentistry (KACE) survey. On completion of the 11-week course, a post-KACE survey was distributed to compare the differences in the three domains of evidence-based dentistry (EBD). For the knowledge domain, the responses from the 10 questions were converted to either correct (1) or wrong (0) so that the compiled scores could range from 0 to 10. The attitudes and confidence domains used a five-point Likert scale. The compiled attitude score was a sum of the responses from 10 questions yielding a range from 10 to 50. For confidence, the compiled score ranged from 6 to 30. The mean knowledge scores of all classes together before and after training were 2.7 and 4.4, respectively. Overall, there was a statistically significant difference between pre- and post-knowledge indicating an improvement in knowledge associated with the training ( < 0.001). The mean attitudes of all classes together before and after the training were 35.3 and 37.2, respectively. Overall, there was a statistically significant improvement in attitude ( < 0.001). The values of mean confidence of all classes together before and after the training were 15.3 and 19.5, respectively. Overall, there was a statistically significant improvement in confidence ( < 0.001). A dental curriculum emphasizing Evidence-based practice (EBD) resulted in increased knowledge acquisition, improved attitude, and confidence toward EBD of dental students. Educational initiatives emphasizing evidence-based dentistry increase students' knowledge acquisition, improved attitude, and confidence toward EBD that may also translate to active implementation of EBD in their future practices.