The National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research’s (NIDCR) www.nidcr.nih.gov National Dental Practice-Based Research Network www.nationaldentalpbrn.org (NDPBRN) has awarded a three year $1.2 million grant to researchers from the Regenstrief Institute www.regenstrief.org and the Indiana University (IU) School of Dentistry www.dentisty.iu.edu.
The funding will be used to analyze the electronic dental records of patients treated by community dentists across the U.S. The objective is to explore the feasibility of using electronic dental records data for clinical research with the goal to improve oral healthcare nationwide.
For the first time, investigators will use data mined from electronic dental records of thousands of individual dental-practice members of the NIH-supported NDPBRN to assess treatment outcomes for posterior composite restorations and for root-canal procedures.
The Regenstrief Institute and the IU School of Dentistry researchers will explore the feasibility of combining data from different electronic dental record systems containing varying formats and operating systems.
Among the de-identified data to be collected will be demographics, reason for visit, medical and dental history, social history, tooth characteristics and treatment, as well as practice and practitioner characteristics.
According to Regenstrief Institute Investigator, Thankam Thyvalikakath Associate Professor and Director of the Dental Informatics Core at the IU School of Dentistry, “The primary objective is to enhance patient care by improving data capture and documentation and design clinical systems to support clinicians, patients and to promote coordinated care among medical providers.”