Network

Newsletter

The POPS study seeks to understand patient and dentist perspectives on painful dental procedures. Using the Treatment Helpfulness Questionnaire (THQ) and the Treatment Effects (TE) forms to collect data from 23 dentists and 230 patients, the study found that these forms were helpful for patients, improved data accuracy, aided patient engagement, and were efficiently used on digital platforms.

Results

We invited you to complete a Quick Poll about managing young not fully erupted molars affected with different levels of molar hypomineralization.

The main Quick Poll findings were:

1. There is an overall agreement among respondents on informing parents about the underlying enamel defect and associated clinical consequences.
2. Half of respondents would consider silver diamine fluoride application on molars affected by hypomineralization in the presence of signs and symptoms such as hypersensitivity or caries.
3. In the absence of dental caries, practitioners would most likely recommend managing partially erupted molars with demarcated opacities and enamel breakdown suggestive of molar hypomineralization with routine preventive visits with topical fluoride application and prophylaxis, and with fissure sealants. 

The National Dental PBRN visited the office of Dr. Kristi Soileau on March 14, 2024 to thank her for her completion of the POPS study and her leadership in the PBRN for many years. Dr. Soileau is a periodontist in New Orleans, LA. Dr. Gregg Gilbert, National Network Director, presented an award to her at her practice. He happened to be attending the annual meeting of the International Association for Dental Research, held this year in New Orleans. Dr. Soileau has been an active leader in the network for many years. We thank Dr. Soileau and her staff for making network studies a success! 

This was a 30-minute presentation on the best practices for adjunctive antibiotics in periodontal treatment presented by Dr. Kotsakis, the PAAS principal investigator, and Dr. Araujo, clinical researcher and Dean of the School of Dental Medicine at University of Buffalo. Watch this webinar to learn about the newest study hosted by the Network, the Periodontal Adjunctive Antibiotics Study (PAAS), a randomized controlled trial testing the effectiveness of adjunctive antibiotics in the treatment of periodontal disease.

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to contribute to this pioneering effort and help improve dental implant therapy outcomes! By enrolling just 10 patients with dental implants at the time of prosthesis placement and following them for three years, you can contribute to this groundbreaking study.

PAAS is a randomized controlled trial testing the effectiveness of adjunctive antibiotics versus placebo for the treatment of periodontitis. We need 36 practitioners from the South Central, South Western, and Western regions to enroll patients with periodontitis undergoing scaling and root planing. Contact us if you are interested! 

Inviting all practitioners from the Midwest and Northeast Regions only to participate in this trial to help their patients quit smoking. Dentists will enroll patients who smoke, and then deliver a brief intervention called Ask-Advise-Refer. Patients will receive a discrete free bag containing an electric toothbrush or Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) samples. 

Improving the nation's oral health by improving

the knowledge base for clinical decision-making

and moving the latest evidence into routine care

The National Dental Practice-Based Research Network is supported by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), grants U19-DE-028717 and U01-DE-028727