For immediate release: December 10, 2003
For more information, contact Susan Griffith at 216-368-1004 or susan.griffith@case.edu

CLEVELAND—Dentists want to do all they can do to be the best.

Assisting them will be researchers from the Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine, who will lead the first in-depth study of what happens daily in private dental practices. Information from the four-year study will help set new standards for dentists and assist dental schools in designing effective teaching programs.

Stephen Wotman

With support of a $2.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Craniofacial Research, Case Professor of Community Dentistry Stephen Wotman will direct a team of researchers from the dental school, the Case School of Medicine and the MetroHealth Medical System.

They will implement a study based on a research model designed by Kurt Stange, professor of family medicine at the Case School of Medicine. Stange has undertaken similar practice studies in family medicine.

Unlike medical doctors who have extensive hospital patient records that note practices and procedures, many dentists work in isolated environments. Information about what happens in those offices has primarily come from self-reported surveys conducted by the American Dental Association.

Starting in May 2004, researchers will begin observing 120 randomly selected Northern Ohio dentists, who are participants in Case's Practice-Based Research Network. Observational teams expect to see some 6,000 patients interacting with the dentists over a 16 month period of data collection.

Each team will observe the dentist and hygienist over a three-day period to discover what kinds of procedures are being done, what patient education and preventive treatment takes place, who is visiting the dentist and how the dentist interacts with the patient.

Wotman also said data will be collected from patient and billing records, surveys and a qualitative log.

"This will be one of the most comprehensive databases of dental practices collected in this country," stated Wotman.

The information will be used for helping dentists understand the dynamics of their practices. Wotman elaborated, "It will allow us to determine what factors about the dentists' practices, about themselves and their patients affect the dentists' ability to do prevention and various other services they provide."

Wotman also noted that the project responds to the federal government's concern about the crisis in oral health of Americans.

"If we can determine what the best practices are and develop interventions, then dentists can be more effective," stated Wotman.

The Case Practice-based Dental Research Network was established in 1998 to study the private practice. Approximately 10 percent of the 2,500 dentists in Northern Ohio participate in this network that examines dental practices.

According to Wotman, this project begins a new research focus in community dentistry in which information from this study will aid the Case dental school in designing new interventions for practicing dentists and later testing the effectiveness those interventions. Case's community dentistry department also studies disparity in oral health through its Healthy Smiles Sealant Program in the Cleveland schools and its campus dental clinics that offer discounted dental services to the public.

Other researchers involved in the project are James Lalumandier, Danny Sawyer and Kristen Zakariasen from the dental school; Stange, Stephen Zyzanski and Susan Flocke from family medicine department; Joseph Sudano, a sociologist from the Center for Health Services and Research at MetroHealth Hospital's department of medicine, and Donna Homenko, professor of dental hygiene from Cuyahoga Community College.

About Case Western Reserve University

Case is among the nation's leading research institutions. Founded in 1826 and shaped by the unique merger of the Case Institute of Technology and Western Reserve University, Case is distinguished by its strengths in education, research, and service. Located in Cleveland, Case offers nationally recognized programs in the Arts and Sciences, Dentistry, Engineering, Law, Management, Medicine, Nursing, and Social Sciences. http://www.case.edu.

 

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