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GUEST EDITORIAL |
President, American Dental Association, 211 East Chicago Ave., Chicago, IL 60611-2678; jonesh{at}ada.org
Teamwork. Collaboration. These buzzwords are bandied about in many professions, but they are more than just abstract concepts in the health sciences. Dentistry must rely on inter- and intraprofessional collaboration to carry ideas investigated at the lab bench into practical application.
For example, in the early 1900s, such an exchange of ideas occurred in the United States. It began with one dentist’s concerns about "mottled enamel" among his patients. Dr. Frederick S. McKay’s queries and observations led researchers to identify an association between the condition (fluorosis) and fluoride, and further spurred the US National Institutes of Health to establish a dental division to investigate this relationship. Through his work on this project at the NIH, researcher Dr. H. Trendley Dean not only identified the level of fluoride associated with this mottling effect but also uncovered the caries-preventive effect offered by fluoride. Dr. Dean’s work eventually resulted in an effort the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (1999) considers one of ten great public health achievements of the 20th century: community water fluoridation.
As this case shows, communicating the interests and concerns of practitioners to those conducting research and the subsequent transfer of knowledge and technology from researchers back to practitioners are critical to scientific advancement.
Fostering a continuing dialogue between dental researchers and practitioners is central to the thriving partnership between the International Association for Dental Research and the American Dental Association. In this partnership, the ADA, as the voice of more than 147,000 members worldwide, promotes, conducts, and critically reviews research related to dentistry. In turn, the American Association for Dental Research speaks for researchers as an active participant at the ADA’s Council on Scientific Affairs, attending the Council’s tri-annual meetings. Through this partnership, the AADR and the ADA have collaborated on numerous projects and reports, including The Future of Dentistry Report and the US Surgeon General’s Report on Oral Health in America.
The ADA Research Agenda is another way the Association seeks to bridge the gap between dental offices and research laboratories. Updated each year, the agenda is forged to help the research community identify issues of importance to the practicing dentist. Adjustments to the Research Agenda, first prepared in 1994, are initiated by the ADA Council on Scientific Affairs.
To prepare its updates, the Council reviews issues related to:
Topics selected for the Research Agenda are those that the Council believes can influence the quality of patient care, enhance practice guidelines, or contribute to the continuing development of dental practice. The list of topics is then reviewed, adopted, and distributed by the ADA.
In addition to the ADA’s efforts to promote and distribute the Research Agenda, the ADA Foundation—the Association’s charitable arm—considers the Agenda when establishing its funding objectives and awarding research grants. The Foundation has committed to funding at least one project from the Research Agenda this year.
The 2003 Research Agenda highlights four broad areas—the science of dentistry, the practice of dentistry, information transfer, and research models. Each of these broad areas is then broken down into sub-categories for which several specific research topics are suggested. The agenda identifies more than 60 topics. All can be viewed online at www.ada.org in the Professional Issues and Research content area.
The Agenda’s first category, focusing on the science of dentistry, includes projects related to biomaterials, oral care and oral diseases, systemic health issues associated with dental health and treatment, and issues related to patient and provider safety. This category also highlights the need for research into the application of emerging technologies—imaging devices, lasers, genetic engineering, and other developments—in dental practices and laboratories. In addition, the category encourages studies that could influence scientific standards and guidelines regarding products used in dentistry. For example, the Research Agenda calls for projects exploring in vitro test methodologies predictive of clinical behavior that can be used to evaluate dental biomaterials.
The second broad category of the Research Agenda focuses on economic, environmental, social, and management issues related to the practice of dentistry. Projects proposed under this category include investigations of barriers to dental care and disease prevention measures, the impact of oral health on the quality of life, environmental issues, and practice management modalities. In particular, this category identifies the need for more information about the cultural, socio-economic, and geographic barriers that prevent access to dental care. The ADA’s Research Agenda also recognizes the value of research into clinical management of dental health for patients who cannot overcome barriers to regular dental visits. Other research needs identified in this category include projects that investigate technologies and systems designed to reduce amalgam waste and mercury in dental wastewater as well as studies to identify any environmental effects of dental wastewater.
What’s more, the ADA’s Research Agenda encourages projects that work toward improving the transfer of information between organizations and agencies like the ADA, AADR/IADR, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), and other relevant groups. Research also is needed into methods that enhance distribution of reliable information to dental professionals and the public.
Finally, the ADA Research Agenda identifies the need for scientific data related to research models. Specifically, the dental profession would benefit from studies that demonstrate the value of evidence-based and animal-based research models.
The ADA Research Agenda represents a statement from dentists to researchers about the needs of patients and practicing dentists. The Association hopes that dentistry’s partnership with researchers will continue to grow, and that projects pursued at the lab bench will address the needs expressed through the ADA Research Agenda. How will the research community respond?
REFERENCE
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (1999). Achievements in public health, 1900–1999: fluoridation of drinking water to prevent dental caries. MMWR 48:933–940.
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