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2012 News

NIDCR establishes National Dental Practice-Based Research Network
Seven-year grant continues to build the evidence base in dentistry
Thursday, April 12, 2012

The National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) has awarded a $66.8 million, seven-year grant that consolidates its dental practice-based research network initiative into a unified nationally coordinated effort.

The consolidated initiative, renamed The National Dental Practice-Based Research Network (NDPBRN), is headquartered at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Dentistry. It serves as a national administrative hub that leads and oversees six smaller regional research sites, or nodes. The nodes are located in Rochester, NY; Gainesville, Fla.; Birmingham; Minneapolis; San Antonio; and Portland, Ore. The NIDCR is part of the National Institutes of Health.

A dental practice-based research network is a investigative union of practicing dentists and academic scientists. The network provides practitioners with an opportunity to propose or participate in research studies that address day-to-day issues in oral healthcare. The studies, conducted in participating dental offices with consenting patients, help to expand the profession's evidence base and further refine care.

Since launching the practice-based initiative in 2005, NIDCR had supported three regional networks, including one at the UAB School of Dentistry. Each had its own affiliated practitioners, clinical studies, and administrative tasks independent of the others.

"A national coordinating center streamlines the network structure for greater financial and administrative efficiency," said NIDCR Director Martha Somerman, D.D.S., Ph.D. "The national structure also should free those at the regional networks to focus almost solely on research, so, it's an excellent opportunity for everyone."

The initial seven-year Regional Dental PBRN grants proved extremely productive, Somerman said. The networks enrolled 1,719 practitioners in 43 states. In collaboration with the Dental PBRN academic faculties and staff, the practitioners organized and conducted 51 research studies, generating 87 journal articles on topics ranging from preventive and restorative dentistry to pain management and smoking cessation.

"The regional research networks were built from scratch, and it took some time and effort to get them up and running smoothly," said NIDCR program specialist Donald DeNucci, D.D.S. "But under the current grant, we're now building on our initial investment, and that should lead to a faster start and sustained productivity over the next seven years."

DeNucci said the NDPBRN plans to expand the number of participating practitioners to 5,000. Greater participation will allow for an increased number and range of studies, the intention being to produce data that can be better generalized to the U.S. population in all its diversity.

The NDPBRN also will welcome greater participation of practitioners in the various dental subspecialties. These include endodontists, periodontists, orthodontists, oral surgeons, prosthodontists, oral pathologists, as well as pediatric and public health dentists. "We also welcome the nation's community health centers and the federal dental services, such as those in the Departments of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense, and the Indian Health Service of the Department of Health and Human Services," said DeNucci. "We can certainly help to develop innovative, low-cost techniques to improve the oral health of all Americans."

Another objective is to extend practitioner participation across the country. "With today’s advanced communications tools, no rural community is too remote for participation in the national network," said Gregg Gilbert, D.D.S., M.B.A., the NDPBRN national network director and chair of UAB School of Dentistry's Department of General Dental Sciences. "Our aim is to be inclusive. We want the NDPBRN to truly become the nation's network."

For more information about the NDPBRN, click here.

For a complete list of regional nodes, click here.

The National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) is the Nation's leading funder of research on oral, dental, and craniofacial health. To learn more about NIDCR, please click here.

April 2012 DPBRN E-Update
Monday, April 02, 2012

Each month we highlight a recent publication that may be of interest to DPBRN members, recent study results, or other important DPBRN information. Please click here to view the pdf version. If you would like to be added to the mailing list, please contact our Director of Communications.

March 2012 DPBRN E-Update
Thursday, March 01, 2012

DPBRN presents at the University of Florida's Clinical and Translational Science Institute Seminar Series
Monday, February 06, 2012

DPBRN Orlando Practitioner-Investigator, Dr. Stanley Asensio II, was a guest speaker at the University of Florida's Clinical and Translational Science Institute Seminar Series on 1/25/2012. The presentation, "Learning about Practice-Based Research Using the Dental PBRN Model", given by Dr. Valeria Gordan, along with Dr. Asensio and Deborah McEdward, provided an overview of the Dental Practice-Based Research Network from the perspective of the Principal Investigator, Practitioner-Investigator, and the Regional Coordinator. Dr. Asensio’s perspective proved to be a vital connection between private practice and academic research efforts, which is one of the visions of the DPBRN.

Study summary results for DPBRN studies are now available
Thursday, February 02, 2012

Summary results, overall and by region, for DPBRN studies "Reasons for replacement or repair of dental restorations", "Patient satisfaction with dental restorations","Prevalence of questionable occlusal caries lesions", "Blood sugar testing in dental practice", "Peri-operative pain and root canal therapy", "Persistent pain and root canal therapy","Impact of dental practice-based research networks on patient care", and "Infrastructure Update Survey" are now available for viewing. Please click here to view them under each study heading.

February 2012 DPBRN E-Update
Wednesday, February 01, 2012

Online video tutorials explain statistics used in systematic reviews
Friday, January 13, 2012

A new series of online video tutorials helps dental professionals and students become more discriminating readers of research articles and how they can be applied in the dental practice. The videos were developed by the ADA Center for Evidence-Based Dentistry (EBD).

The first three tutorials focus on statistics and provide an understanding of the statistics-related concepts clinicians will encounter in evidence-based research and systematic reviews.

• "Why Do We Need Statistics?" describes three situations that can be quantified using statistics and identifies what the authors of a systematic review are trying to quantify.
• "What are the Different Types of Data?" explains the differences between nominal, ordinal and quantitative data and identifies the type of data being presented in a systematic review.
• In "What is a Null Hypothesis?" viewers develop a null hypothesis and identify the null hypotheses in systematic reviews.

For more advanced training in EBD principles, attend the next ADA EBD Champions Conference in Chicago on March 8-10, 2012. To view the videos, click here.

Nixdorf presents DPBRN Study 17 feasibility results in Master of Science in Clinical Research defense
Tuesday, January 10, 2012

DPBRN Study 17 Principal Investigator Don Nixdorf, DDS, MS completed the oral defense of his Master of Science in Clinical Research at the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry. Dr. Nixdorf presented data from DPBRN Study 17: "Peri-Operative Pain and Root Canal Therapy." Practitioners involved in the study, Alan Law, DDS, PhD, Deb Knaup, DDS, MS and Dennis Tucker, DDS attended the public presentation.

"From a researcher’s perspective," says Dr. Nixdorf, "large prospective endodontic studies have not had high levels of patient follow-up. In that context, this study was a big success." With patient follow-up response rates of more than 90%, the DPBRN achieved meaningful participation of both practitioners and their patients.

The study involved both endodontists and general dentists across the US, as well as general dentists in Denmark and endodontists in Sweden. Endodontists in the audience agreed that the results represent the population of patients typically seen in practice. "This too is important with regards to the contribution of these studies," says Nixdorf. "It is a tribute to the excellent enrollment capabilities of practitioners engaged in the DPBRN. These daily efforts really add up and result in the diversity of patients and providers we’re looking to represent."

Each DPBRN study sheds light on new challenges and ways for the network to grow and improve. "In these studies, the challenging part—and the practitioners will tell you this— was the consecutive logging of eligible patients," stated Dr. Nixdorf. "We’ve learned how to address robust data collection in the environment of a busy dental practice. Practitioners in the network demonstrated a great deal of skill in this regard. We are very grateful. It leads to results that contribute meaningfully to the body of knowledge in this area."

Main outcomes of the studies are pending publication. Stay tuned for future DPBRN news releases.

January 2012 DPBRN E-Update
Sunday, January 01, 2012