2024 Meeting of South Central Practitioners
In April 2024, the National Dental PBRN held a meeting for practitioners from the South Central Region to come together, learn, and network. Read more about the meeting and presentations here.
Mental Health Screening in Dental Practices: A Feasible Approach
Mental health issues are prevalent but often remain untreated. As researchers in healthcare, we have a strong interest in mental health and improving access to care. This pilot study conducted by UA researchers investigated the feasibility of integrating mental health screening and referral to treatment into the dental health workflow.
Molar Incisor Hypomineralization Quick Poll Results
This Quick poll aimed to investigate dental practitioners’ approach in managing challenging cases of erupting molars with demarcated opacities characteristics of molar incisor hypomineralization.
Lifetime Achievements of our Network: External evaluations validate its high continuing value
This blog post highlights the significant strides made by the National Dental Practice-Based Research Network in dental research. It showcases the Network’s comprehensive approach to research as well as the Network’s impressive accomplishments, including extensive studies, numerous publications, and a high H-index.
How long do posterior composite fillings typically last?
Have you ever wondered how long your posterior composite restorations last? In the largest US study to date, Dr. Thankam Thyvalikakath and colleagues analyzed over 700,000 posterior composite restoration placed in 200,000 patients across 99 Network dental practices. The findings from this Electronic Dental Records (EDR) analysis have been recently published in the Journal of Dentistry.
2023 Publication Highlights
Explore the 2023 highlights from the network’s publications, offering insights on topics ranging from cracked teeth and TMD management to telemedicine in dentistry and PPE use. These findings may inspire you to reconsider your current practices and adapt to the evolving landscape of dental healthcare.
National Dental PBRN Dentist Characteristics Study
The National Dental Practice-Based Research Network (PBRN) conducted a study to describe the characteristics of its member dentists in the United States and determine how often they provide specific dental procedures. The results showed that dentists participating in the National Dental PBRN have much in common with dentists at large. The network has a broad representation of dentists, practice types, patient populations, and treatments offered, including diversity regarding race/ethnicity, gender, insurance, and geography of its practitioners and patients.
Study: Self-contamination of dental personnel PPE when donning and doffing
Personal protective equipment (PPE) can help protect dental personnel from exposure to pathogens, including SARS-CoV-2. However, correctly donning and doffing PPE without self-contamination can be difficult. The network studied how dental care workers don and doff PPE, when and where self-contamination is most likely to occur, and how to help improve knowledge about this. The results from the study were recently published and Kimberly Reske and Jennie Kwon, the study principal investigator, shared their findings with us in our blog.
Innovative mDentistry eHygiene study shows promise in dental care
The mDentistry model supplements the traditional practice of dentistry with virtual visits supported by mobile devices and mHealth tools such as mobile phones, wireless infrastructures and intraoral cameras. This mDentistry eHygiene study is the first step of utilizing the mDentistry model to assess the acceptance of virtual intraoral examinations by patients and the dental health care personnel, along with testing patients’ abilities to take intraoral photos using a digital mobile health tool.
Business Outcomes Quick Poll Results
The purpose of this Quick Poll was to evaluate Network participants’ perceptions regarding the impact of National Dental PBRN participation on various aspects of their clinical and business outcomes including clinical decision-making, internal and external relations, organizational culture, and risk management.
