JDR Clinical & Translational Research最新文献

Interdisciplinary education in dentistry has become essential as the profession evolves and patient demographics shift. The primary driving force behind this change is the aging population and the rising prevalence of chronic illnesses, which are due to improved medical treatments and longer life expectancy. This demographic shift necessitates a more comprehensive approach to dental education, integrating knowledge from various medical and health care disciplines. As we look to the future, it is essential to explore the need for enhanced collaboration with other health care professionals, the evolving nature of dentistry, and strategies for implementing interdisciplinary training in dental education.Knowledge Transfer Statement:Interdisciplinary education in dentistry is essential for adapting to evolving patient demographics and equipping dentists with the skills to collaborate effectively with other health care providers, leading to improved patient outcomes and comprehensive care. Despite challenges in implementation, strategies such as integrated curriculum design, faculty development, and collaborative research can facilitate the adoption of this model and prepare dental professionals for holistic, patient-centered care.

A shift toward integrated, interprofessional care models requires intentional action across multiple domains, most notably research, education, and community engagement. This commentary introduces the upcoming JDR CTR supplement titled "Advancing Interprofessional Primary Care through Research, Education, and Community: A Call to Action." The supplement will include detailed information on the topics described in this commentary and highlight current strategies and opportunities to advance oral health integration across education, clinical care, and community-based models. This commentary emphasizes interprofessional education, faculty development, and community engagement as key drivers of systemic change. Integration must move beyond rhetoric to structural implementation, redefining oral health as essential to equitable, person-centered primary care.Knowledge Transfer Statement:This commentary highlights the JDR CTR special supplement (available in July 2025), featuring influential research and expert contributions that advance dentistry interprofessional health care. It is a valuable resource for exploring the progress, challenges, and opportunities at the intersection of research, education, and community practice, all aimed to advance oral health integration and improve equitable access to care.

Objectives: This study evaluated the effectiveness of a health communication workshop recently introduced at the Columbia University College of Dental Medicine (CDM) in enhancing dental students' preparedness and attitude regarding communication training. Effective communication skills are essential for dentists to improve patient understanding, foster trust, and ultimately enhance treatment outcomes.

Methods: The E4 model focuses on managing patient-dentist relationships through patient engagement, empathetic understanding, effective education, and collaborative planning and served as the foundation for the communication workshop. The workshop began in 2020 to 2021 and included a brief online module on interpersonal communication, followed by four 2-h sessions featuring presentations, video analysis, and role-play. We administered a pre- and postworkshop survey to participating third-year DDS students and advanced standing students. We conducted descriptive, McNemar test, and multiple logistic regression analyses to assess changes in students' perceptions, and qualitative analysis of open-ended responses provided deeper insights into the workshop's quality and interpersonal strengths and weaknesses.

Results: Surveys from 73 of 95 third-year DDS and advanced standing respondents were matched after the workshop. The post-workshop survey showed significant improvements in students' perception of how well the CDM curriculum prepared them to be good communicators (20.5% vs 67.1%, P < 0.001) and the adequacy of their communication skills (69.9 vs 87.7%, P = 0.04). Approximately 88% of students (n = 64) reported that the E4 model helped them improve their communication skills, with around 85% (n = 62) stating that they acquired new skills. Qualitative analysis identified common communication strengths, such as active listening and rapport building, and weaknesses, such as difficulty in concise communication and confidence issues.

Conclusions: The health communication workshop at CDM effectively enhanced dental students' self-perceived communication skills and preparedness for communicating with patients. Student feedback provided valuable insights for refining the workshop.Knowledge Transfer Statement:The recommendations from this article can be used by dental training programs to enhance communication training within clinical teaching, ensuring that dental students develop strong communication skills and achieve educational competency.

The insufficient number of dental faculty teaching general dentistry, pediatric dentistry, and public health dentistry increases the pressure on current faculty to increase their teaching responsibilities, competing with other opportunities of faculty development. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) strengthens the primary care workforce by supporting the academic career development of faculty. This issue describes the innovative work done by dental faculty supported by HRSA programs and demonstrates the importance of investing in long-term faculty career development.Knowledge Transfer Statement:The recommendations from this article can be used by dental training programs to develop a resilient and effective academic workforce and improve the teaching of general dentistry, pediatric dentistry, and public health dentistry.

Introduction: Xerostomia is a subjective sensation of dry mouth affecting millions of people worldwide. Current management has limitations, often causing side effects. This study aims to investigate whether electrical stimulation of the lingual nerve could offer effective relief for xerostomia sufferers.

Methods: Eligible participants were randomly assigned (1:1) to either the experimental or sham group, receiving electrical stimulation of the lingual nerve (n = 24) or sham stimulation (n = 23) for 12 wk. The primary outcome is the changes in xerostomia score using a 100-mm visual analog scale throughout the therapy. Participants assessed their dryness and assigned corresponding scores, with lower scores indicating more severe dry mouth. Secondary outcomes included remission rate in dry mouth frequency, changes in stimulated/unstimulated salivary flow rate (SSFR/USFR), and changes in Oral Health Impact Profile-14 (OHIP-14) questionnaire scores, where higher scores indicate greater impact on oral quality of life.

Results: At week 12, the electrical stimulation group showed greater improvement in xerostomia score compared to the sham group, with a mean between-group difference of 13.8 (95% confidence interval [CI], 10.0-17.6). The therapeutic effect of electrical stimulation was also confirmed by secondary outcomes. The remission rate of dry mouth was higher at 12 wk in the electrical stimulation group (61.9% [95% CI, 40.9%-79.3%] vs. 28.6% [95% CI, 13.8%-50.0%]). Participants in the electrical stimulation group also experienced a greater increase in USFR, with a mean difference of 14.5 (6.1-23.0) μL/min. Moreover, they exhibited significant improvement in OHIP-14 score after 12 wk of therapy, with a mean between-group difference of -10.0 (-13.9 to -6.2). No significant difference was observed between the 2 groups for SSFR (P = 0.702).

Conclusions: Electric stimulation offers promise as a noninvasive, nonpharmacological strategy for the management of xerostomia. Further research is needed to understand its long-term effectiveness, optimal parameters, and underlying mechanisms.Knowledge Transfer Statement:The study confirmed that electrical stimulation of the lingual nerve is a promising noninvasive and nonpharmacological modality for relief of xerostomia.

Introduction: The effects of racism, oppression, and colonization in Australia are reflected in the inequitable experience of chronic kidney disease (CKD) among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Despite having the highest incidence of CKD, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have the lowest rate of kidney transplant, with poor oral health commonly being an obstacle to receiving a transplant. This research reflects the exploratory phase of a larger project aimed at maximizing oral health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living with CKD in Australia through the provision of culturally secure dental care.

Methods: The present research uses reflexive thematic analysis to analyze qualitative data from yarns, interviews, and focus groups with dental, renal, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stakeholders to generate a conceptual understanding of equity at the nexus of oral health and kidney health. NVivo software was used for organizing data and an inductive line-by-line coding approach.

Results: Twenty-eight stakeholders participated; 12 of the stakeholders identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, and most were female. Factors at the nexus of oral health and CKD included the continuous effects of colonization, the centrality of cultural security for improved care, as well as several challenges and opportunities at a system level. Challenges included the luxury of oral health access, limited health care team involvement in oral health pathways, high-intensity engagement with medical systems, and no communication between dental and renal teams. Opportunities identified included the role of integrated care, cross-discipline knowledge sharing, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership, clear referral pathways, prevention, and assistance with navigating the oral health system.

Conclusion: We argue that collective responsibility for the oral health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living with CKD is required for improved health and eligibility for kidney transplant. Cross-discipline collaboration is required to overcome the rigidness of the current colonial and biomedical model that silos oral health and CKD.Knowledge Transfer Statement:The siloed approach to management of oral health for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with chronic kidney disease results in low knowledge sharing and communication across chronic disease management teams and can prevent kidney transplantation. Collective responsibility for oral health within this context is required to ensure that just and equitable access to kidney transplant can be achieved.

Objective: To examine the gender and geographic distribution of the International Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research (IADR) Distinguished Scientist Awards (DSA; data: 2019-2024), group awards (data: 1982-2024), and fellowships (data: 1987-2024).

Methods: Publicly available data were obtained from the IADR awards website. Information on gender and location of the awardees was gathered from photographs and affiliations if available or otherwise from online profiles or using Genderize, an online gender allocation platform.

Results: Of the 99 DSA awardees in 2019 to 2024, 35% were women; 38% were from the United States, 12% were from the United Kingdom, and 11% were from Australia. Of the 35 DSA women awardees, 54% were from the United States and 11% from Finland. Of the 795 group awardees, 45% were women. Data on the location of awardees were readily available for 681 group awards; of these, 39% were from the United States and 87% were from high-income countries. Of the 113 fellowships awarded, 58% were to women. Of the 32 fellowships since 2018, 44% were for awardees from upper-middle income countries.

Conclusion: Although women are overrepresented in the dental profession and the IADR has a global membership, women awardees remain underrepresented, and most awards are granted to researchers in high-income countries. These findings call attention to a deeper look at diversity, equity, and inclusion within the IADR.Knowledge Transfer Statement:Gender diversity of IADR research awards is moving in the right direction, but geographic diversity lags, with most Distinguished Scientist Awards and group awards to members in high-income countries. There is an urgent need to consider performance relative to opportunities and applications. This change in process could provide a much-needed intersectionality lens for recognizing the research performance of IADR members while increasing diversity and inclusivity.

Stark inequities exist in oral health care access with minoritized and marginalized populations facing more barriers to attaining care than the general population does. Considerably more individuals have access to primary health care than to dental services. The high prevalence of access to primary care services relative to dental services suggests a key role for primary care providers to address the oral health needs of patients. A limiting factor is a lack of uniformity of standards and curricula that exist for integrating oral health into primary care training disciplines. Based on the Center for Integration of Primary Care and Oral Health's (CIPCOH) research over the past 5 y, we have developed broad recommendations for training programs across the primary care spectrum: (1) support champion training programs that incorporate promising and/or best practices, (2) incorporate oral health into interprofessional standards, and (3) establish a curricular and evaluation framework for oral health integration into primary care training.Knowledge Transfer Statement:The recommendations from this article can be used by primary care educators and policy makers to better integrate oral health into primary care training programs and ensure a competent primary care workforce.

Aims: This work examines and describes dental health among people seeking asylum and refugees (PSAR) who are evaluated by the Respond service. This includes access to and use of oral health products, access to dental care, and experience of dental pain.

Materials and methods: The Respond service pilot offered holistic health assessments to PSAR in temporary accommodation within North Central London between July 2021 and March 2023. Relevant data were extracted from anonymized health records of individuals seen by Respond. Data were analyzed with SPSS (version 28.0.0.0; IBM) to produce descriptive statistics and regression models.

Results: An overall 1,390 PSAR were included; 78.7% were male. The mean ages of adults and children were 31.6 and 6.8 y. Seventy-seven countries of birth were reported, most commonly Iran (23.1%). Over two-thirds (67.1%) of PSAR were not accompanied by family members; only 17.2% had UK family links. The mean travel duration was 769.3 days; migration reasons were multifactorial, including persecution (31.2%) and conflict (20.5%). In addition, 77.3% of PSAR reported having access to a toothbrush; only 50.8% indicated routinely brushing their teeth, with 38.9% having seen a dentist in <36 mo. Dental pain was common (28.8%). Only 45.8% of children (<16 y) had access to a toothbrush, 32.3% were brushing their teeth twice daily, and 9.7% cited dental pain. Logistic regression identified significant predictors of routine toothbrushing, access to dental care, and dental pain. Female PSAR were more likely to routinely brush their teeth (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 3.19; P < 0.001) and access dental care (adjusted OR, 0.57; P < 0.05). PSAR aged 30 to 39 y (adjusted OR, 1.97; P < 0.05) and those with informal travel modes (adjusted OR, 1.82; P < 0.001) were more likely to experience pain.

Conclusion: There is variation in the dental experience of PSAR, but a significant proportion are failing to perform routine toothbrushing, are not regularly accessing dental care, and are experiencing dental pain.Knowledge Transfer Statement: The results of this analysis suggest that there is variation in the dental experience of people seeking asylum and refugees, but many are failing to perform routine toothbrushing, are not regularly accessing dental care, and are experiencing dental pain.