Editor-in-Chief

Journal of Oral and Biomedical Sciences

Annoor Dental College and Hospital, Muvattupuzha, Kerala

Received: 15-11-2023

Revised: 19-11-2023

Accepted: 28-11-2023

Address for correspondence: Dr Deepu George Mathew, Annoor Dental College and Hospital, Muvattupuzha, Kerala. Email- deepugeorgemathew@gmail.com

This is an open access journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial ShareAlike 4.0 license, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms

How to cite this article: Mathew D G. Need for translation research in dentistry. J Oral Biomed Sci 2023; 2:108

It is important that the new information generated during biomedical research should reach the practicing dental surgeon so that the public can reap its benefit. Translation research process involves the translation of knowledge into clinical practice.1Translation research is defined by association of research training (ACTR) as a multidirectional and multidisciplinary integration of basic research, patient-oriented research and population-based research with long term aim of improving the health of the public. Basic research is defined by national science foundation (NSF) as the acquisition of knowledge without the obligation to apply it to practical ends. This type of research includes invitro studies and animal studies. While Clinical research includes three types of research processes a) Patient oriented research which involves human subjects like studying the mechanism of diseases, clinical trials or developing new technologies b) Epidemiological and behavioral studies c) Outcome research and health services research.2  The process of translation of research findings into clinical practice follows the following steps.  T1 step involves the translation of basic research knowledge into controlled clinical trials in human subjects to understand the potential benefits and risks involved. T2 steps involves implementation of the research findings from clinical trials into clinical practice through guidelines, overviews and systematic reviews. 2,3

It is often disappointing to see that very often new interventions introduced into the dental practice have bypassed this process of translation research. Recent reports have identified dental procedures being introduced into clinical practice bypassing basic research.  Instead of randomized control trials case reports and case series which has high risk of bias were used to validate the use in clinical practice. When techniques and procedures are performed without evaluating the research process involved, the patients can be exposed to uninformed potential harmful effects. The clinicians should have a comprehensive knowledge and patients should be informed regarding the benefits and harms before any procedure being used in clinical setting.3

Hence it is important that the practicing dentist should develop sufficient skills to comprehensively evaluate the quality of information provided about the treatment procedures. This will make sure that patients will benefit from the latest scientific knowledge with the safest and best outcomes.

References

  1. Clarkson JE, Ramsay CR, Eccles MP, Eldridge S, Grimshaw JM, Johnston M, Michie S, Treweek S, Walker A, Young L, Black I. The translation research in a dental setting (TRiaDS) programme protocol. Implementation Science. 2010 Dec;5:1-0.
  2. Rubio DM, Schoenbaum EE, Lee LS, Schteingart DE, Marantz PR, Anderson KE, Platt LD, Baez A, Esposito K. Defining translational research: implications for training. Academic Medicine. 2010;85:470-5.
  3. Faggion Jr CM. The (in) adequacy of translational research in dentistry. European journal of oral sciences. 2020;128:103-9.

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