ADA Living Guideline Program announced

Oral health program provides evidence-based guidelines to inform patient care

The ADA and University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine have collaborated to establish the ADA Living Guideline Program, the first and only known living clinical practice guideline program dedicated to oral health, according to a May 14 news release.  

The ADA Living Guideline Program will provide oral health care providers and patients with more frequent, evidence-based recommendations to advance oral and overall health. The program will uphold the methodological rigor of traditional guidelines but living guidelines are updated as soon as new evidence emerges and is carefully reviewed.   

“The ADA Living Guideline Program will provide dentists and other healthcare professionals continually updated, evidence-based information to improve the health of their patients,” said Ashraf Fouad, D.D.S., chair of the ADA Council on Scientific Affairs.  

The program’s first focus will be an update of a 2017 ADA guideline on evaluation of oral cancer and potentially malignant disorders. The enhancement of the traditional guidelines process allows patients, the profession, and policy makers to adopt the information more quickly, according to the release.  

For more information on current guidelines, visit ADA.org/guidelines.