ABSTRACT
The clinical criteria for 'goodness' may however be entirely different and will be influenced by the dentist's own perception of what factors constitute a 'good' restoration. Clinical audit in practice is concerned with improving the quality of dental care. There are three components to audit. These are: purpose, methodology and subject. The contribution of didactic postgraduate education to clinical audit is not as marked as one may at first suppose. A more appropriate definition would perhaps be that clinical audit is a process of self and peer evaluation of the quality of dental care, by objective means, to assess and improve the quality of patient care. The process of audit relies heavily on an approach to problem solving that many dentists with management experience will already be familiar with. A formal clinical audit programme for dentists has recently been introduced by the Department of Health.
