A Perspective: Integrating Dental and Medical Research Improves Overall Health
The past decade has seen marked increases in research findings identifying oral-systemic links. Yet, much of dental research remains poorly integrated with mainstream biomedical research. The historic separation of dentistry from medicine has led to siloed approaches in education, research and pract...
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2021-06-01
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doaj-2e7a6d26b3e3424abcfe7fa441301f772021-06-22T04:57:58ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Dental Medicine2673-49152021-06-01210.3389/fdmed.2021.699575699575A Perspective: Integrating Dental and Medical Research Improves Overall HealthWendy Mouradian0Wendy Mouradian1Janice Lee2Joan Wilentz3Martha Somerman4Martha Somerman5School of Dentistry, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United StatesThe Santa Fe Group, New York, NY, United StatesNational Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United StatesIndependent Researcher, New York, NY, United StatesNational Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United StatesNational Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United StatesThe past decade has seen marked increases in research findings identifying oral-systemic links. Yet, much of dental research remains poorly integrated with mainstream biomedical research. The historic separation of dentistry from medicine has led to siloed approaches in education, research and practice, ultimately depriving patients, providers, and policy makers of findings that could benefit overall health and well-being. These omissions amount to lost opportunities for risk assessment, diagnosis, early intervention and prevention of disease, increasing cost and contributing to a fragmented and inefficient healthcare delivery system. This perspective provides examples where fostering interprofessional research collaborations has advanced scientific understanding and yielded clinical benefits. In contrast are examples where failure to include dental research findings has limited progress and led to adverse health outcomes. The impetus to overcome the dental-medical research divide gains further urgency today in light of the coronavirus pandemic where contributions that dental research can make to understanding the pathophysiology of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and in diagnosing and preventing infection are described. Eliminating the research divide will require collaborative and trans-disciplinary research to ensure incorporation of dental research findings in broad areas of biomedical research. Enhanced communication, including interoperable dental/medical electronic health records and educational efforts will be needed so that the public, health care providers, researchers, professional schools, organizations, and policymakers can fully utilize oral health scientific information to meet the overall health needs of the public.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdmed.2021.699575/fullmedical-dental integrationoral-systemic researchclinical trialsinteroperable electronic health recordsmicrobiome |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Wendy Mouradian Wendy Mouradian Janice Lee Joan Wilentz Martha Somerman Martha Somerman |
spellingShingle |
Wendy Mouradian Wendy Mouradian Janice Lee Joan Wilentz Martha Somerman Martha Somerman A Perspective: Integrating Dental and Medical Research Improves Overall Health Frontiers in Dental Medicine medical-dental integration oral-systemic research clinical trials interoperable electronic health records microbiome |
author_facet |
Wendy Mouradian Wendy Mouradian Janice Lee Joan Wilentz Martha Somerman Martha Somerman |
author_sort |
Wendy Mouradian |
title |
A Perspective: Integrating Dental and Medical Research Improves Overall Health |
title_short |
A Perspective: Integrating Dental and Medical Research Improves Overall Health |
title_full |
A Perspective: Integrating Dental and Medical Research Improves Overall Health |
title_fullStr |
A Perspective: Integrating Dental and Medical Research Improves Overall Health |
title_full_unstemmed |
A Perspective: Integrating Dental and Medical Research Improves Overall Health |
title_sort |
perspective: integrating dental and medical research improves overall health |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
series |
Frontiers in Dental Medicine |
issn |
2673-4915 |
publishDate |
2021-06-01 |
description |
The past decade has seen marked increases in research findings identifying oral-systemic links. Yet, much of dental research remains poorly integrated with mainstream biomedical research. The historic separation of dentistry from medicine has led to siloed approaches in education, research and practice, ultimately depriving patients, providers, and policy makers of findings that could benefit overall health and well-being. These omissions amount to lost opportunities for risk assessment, diagnosis, early intervention and prevention of disease, increasing cost and contributing to a fragmented and inefficient healthcare delivery system. This perspective provides examples where fostering interprofessional research collaborations has advanced scientific understanding and yielded clinical benefits. In contrast are examples where failure to include dental research findings has limited progress and led to adverse health outcomes. The impetus to overcome the dental-medical research divide gains further urgency today in light of the coronavirus pandemic where contributions that dental research can make to understanding the pathophysiology of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and in diagnosing and preventing infection are described. Eliminating the research divide will require collaborative and trans-disciplinary research to ensure incorporation of dental research findings in broad areas of biomedical research. Enhanced communication, including interoperable dental/medical electronic health records and educational efforts will be needed so that the public, health care providers, researchers, professional schools, organizations, and policymakers can fully utilize oral health scientific information to meet the overall health needs of the public. |
topic |
medical-dental integration oral-systemic research clinical trials interoperable electronic health records microbiome |
url |
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdmed.2021.699575/full |
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