Clinical & Practice-Based Research Program

The NIDCR encourages applications proposing patient-oriented and population-based studies aimed at improving dental, oral and craniofacial health.

National Dental Practice-Based Research Network

The NIDCR supports clinical studies conducted in a practice-based research setting. The National Dental Practice-Based Research Network (PBRN) is a nationally coordinated program committed to advancing knowledge of dental practice and ways to improve it. Essentially, it is research done in the “real world” of daily clinical practice. The goals of the National Dental PBRN are to support national oral health research studies in dental practices on topics of importance to practitioners and their patients, to provide evidence useful in daily patient care, and to facilitate the translation of research findings into clinical practice.

The National Administrative and Resource Center is headquartered at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and includes six regional Nodes or administrative hubs and one specialty dentistry Node. Kaiser Permanente’s Center for Health Research serves as the National Coordinating Center for the National Dental PBRN. Network membership comprises over 6,500 dental practitioners in all 50 states, representing a variety of practice settings and types. The Network provides practitioners with an opportunity to propose or participate in research studies by building on practitioners’ observations from their own practices and addressing research questions that are directly relevant to their daily practice.

Studies include: Management of painful temporomandibular disorders, HPV screening for oral cancer risk, management of adult open openbite, orofacial pain after endodontic treatment, and opioid prescribing practices of dentists.

If you would like to propose a research study to be conducted in the National Dental PBRN, please visit the grant applicants’ page. If you are a dental practitioner who would like to learn more about membership in the network, including being a partner in research, please visit the practitioners’ page.