The Scottish Dental Practice Based Research Network

A report on the 1st Annual Symposium
held on Saturday 3^rd November 2001

Abstracts for Oral Presentations

Abstracts for Parallel Workshop Sessions

Abstracts for Poster Presentations

The Scottish Dental Practice Based Research Network (SDPBRN) was formally launched on Saturday 3^rd November 2001 at a National Symposium. SDPBRN was established by the Scottish Consortium for Development and Education in Dental Primary Care (SCdeDPC). The consortium comprises representatives from the three dental institutions of Dundee, Edinburgh, and Glasgow, Scottish Council for Postgraduate Medical and Dental Education (SCPMDE), and the national R&D resource of the Dental Health Services Research Unit (DHSRU). With the support of the consortium SDPBRN is working to achieve its aim to promote research, and implement research evidence in dental practice in Scotland. The National Symposium was attended by general dental practitioners / community dental practitioners, who had recently become members of SDPBRN, representatives from the dental academic community and key policy makers in dental primary care.

The verbal and poster presentations at the meeting clearly demonstrated the breadth and quality of research in dental primary care in Scotland. Madeline Murray chaired the morning session after an introductory overview of SDPBRN by Dr Jan Clarkson, Professor Nairn H F Wilson, President of the General Dental Council, gave a very personal presentation of his experience of 'Practice Based Research.' This was followed by reports from two General Dental Practitioners and one Community Dental Officer discussing their own research projects: Gordon Thomson spoke about the results of his research project looking at the management of snoring using an intra-oral appliance in primary dental care. Gordon is a member of TayRen, who along with other members, have been supported to conduct this and other research projects. Martyn Steed, gave a lively presentation entitled 'In at the deep end', which looked at his experience in the Highlands and Islands Teledental (HIT) project. The HIT project is Martyn's first experience in managing a major research project in primary dental care and is a research project to evaluate Teledental consultations at the primary/ secondary care interface, between general dental practices in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland and the Restorative Dental Consultant Clinic in Aberdeen. The morning session of presentations ended with Jenny Hally, who has recently completed a SCPMDE Higher Training Fellowship, discussing her project looking at 'Continuing care for Highlands elderly'. This research has provided service and policy makers in the Highlands with the most comprehensive data on this subject.

The afternoon session saw yet another wide range of presentations with Dr Sally Wyke, Director, Scottish School of Primary Care (SSPC) outlining what the School is and what it aims to do. This was followed by an informative presentation on ethics in primary care by Dr James Rodger, Medical Adviser, MDDUS. Following this Julie Kilgariff, a Senior House Officer at Dundee Dental Hospital, presented the results of a research project conducted within her VT year (last year) in a general practice in Dunfermline, 'A randomised control trial to investigate patients' views of a scale and polish'. Maryam Bahrami, a Clinical Research Fellow, presented the findings of a national project to investigate the 'Implementation of guidelines in primary dental care. How effective is it?' Finally, the day was drawn together in a plenary session by Professor Nigel Pitts, Director, DHSRU.

During the plenary feedback was provided by the facilitators of the three parallel workshop sessions that ran twice throughout the day. These were entitled 'Research Activities, Personal and Continuing Professional Development' facilitated by Terry Simpson, Audit Facilitator, and Yann Maidment, CPD Clinical Governance. 'Research in the 'real world' - prevent the pitfalls! facilitated by Alexandra H Lowe, General Dental Practitioner, and Chris Southwick, University of Dundee, and 'Primary Care Research Networks: What can we do for you?' facilitated by Lucy McCloughan, Network Co-ordinator Lothian PCRN, and Marie Pitkethly, Network Co-ordinator, TayRen. The feedback from these workshops lead to the following main points being raised.

'Research Activities, Personal and Continuing Professional Development' feedback from workshop:
	start at undergraduate level for research methods training
	rural support advisers, for example regional advisers as in VT
	research activities, other than just data collection to be verifiable for CPD
	funding sources easily accessible for example, contact points on information on how to apply for grant funding
	letting people know how fulfilling involvement is in research
'Research in the 'real world' - prevent the pitfalls!' feedback from workshop:
	when doing research, be aware from the outset that you will face difficulties
	ask for helpful methodological advice, for example value in finding a good statistician
	contact Networks for advice, for example choosing a topic of research - keep it simple
'Primary Care Research Networks: What can we do for you?' feedback from workshop:
	PCRNs keen to get dentists involved, TayRen is considered a model for other PCRNs
	lack of communication with a need to circulate ideas/ information to recruit dentists to local networks
	there is a time constraint for dentists, this could be overcome by offering CPD points as a 'carrot'
	need to involve all professions allied to dentistry
Taking account of the feedback received from the launch of SDPBRN our future plans include:
	acting as a facilitator and central point-of-contact to improve networking and communication systems in the primary care community
	increase links with Primary Care Research Networks (PCRNs)
	continue to establish and consolidate research links and opportunities for development of research in dental primary care
	continue to develop collaborative working with SSPC to build both capability and capacity for research in Dental Primary Care
	through collaborative working develop training programmes in research and evidence based dentistry

The day was enhanced with a selection of poster presentations, abstracts of which are viewable. Also, available is the facility to register as a member of SDPBRN. Membership of the network will allow you to participate in this exciting initiative and give you the opportunity to have your say on how SDPBRN develops.

Jan Clarkson Director SDPBRN November 2001

Jill Gillies Projects Officer SDPBRN November 2001