Abstract:
The development of clinical judgment and decision-making skills is complex, requiring clinicians—
whether students, novices, or experienced practitioners—to correlate information from their
own experience; from discussions with colleagues; from attending professional meetings, conferences
and congresses; and from studying the current literature. Feedback from treated cases will
consolidate retention in memory of the complexities and management of past cases, and the
conversion of this knowledge base into daily clinical practice. The purpose of this narrative
review is to discuss factors related to clinical judgment and decision-making in clinical dentistry
and how both narrative, intuitive, evidence-based data-driven information and statistical
approaches contribute to the global process of gaining clinical expertise.
