Teaching clinical judgment in periodontics

Clinical judgment is a complex process that is difficult to develop. It is the essence of the health professional, yet most dental curricula do not emphasize the learning of the judgmental process. In this paper the judgmental process is analyzed into three components: input, mediation, and output. Following the analysis, suggestions for using these components are presented in four instructional phases: the introductory phase, the initial guidance phase, the application phase, and the feedback phase. While the illustrations used are drawn from periodontics, the principles are generalizable to the teaching of all clinical disciplines.