dr - University of Washington School of Dentistry

a
based dentistry improves the results for patients in the
long run.”
Dr. McIntyre also said that his participation in the
network helps him get a better handle on other research.
“I’m very interested in the process of how evidence is
obtained,” he says, and his work with PRECEDENT
gives him a firsthand look.
Dr. McIntyre practices with his wife, Dr. Pollene
Speed (’80), Assistant Professor in Restorative Dentistry
at the School of Dentistry and also a participating
PRECEDENT member. She recently lectured students
on how evidence-based dentistry is incorporated into
clinical decision-making, and cites the benefit of incorporating
research into teaching.
“I think [evidence-based dentistry] is how we’ll be
doing things in the future,” she says.
Dr. Speed also points to her involvement with community
dentistry, and says research in this area “is one
of the exciting things for me. … I don’t think we really
get a complete picture of the state of dental disease in
the population without that component.”
Dr. Jane Gillette (’02) of Bozeman, Mont., seconds
that view and applauds PRECEDENT for its commit-
34 DentalAlumninews SUMMER / FALL 2009
R E A L - W O R L D L A B
Dr. Pollene Speed and Dr. George McIntyre, Northwest PRECEDENT members
and spouses, share a practice in Seattle. Dr. Speed calls evidence-based
dentistry the wave of the future, while Dr. McIntyre says his experience with
research methods in the network gives him a better grasp of other research.
ment to pursuing community-based studies. She has
participated in studies both in a community clinic and
more recently in her private practice.
“The patients that are seen in community health
clinics and the dentists who see them really have very
different needs than in private practice,” she says.
For example: “When I was working in the community
clinic, I noticed that all the private-practice dentists
wanted to know all about cracked teeth. That was
at the very bottom for me; in the clinic, I saw a lot of
diseased teeth, and what I wanted to know was related
to caries prevention and treatment. But when I moved
into private practice, my interests changed.
I was still very much interested in caries
treatment, but the patient populations are
so very different, and they have different
research needs.”
Community clinics also pose a unique
challenge for the dental researcher, Dr.
Gillette says. “In the community clinic,
you might have a high no-show rate, or
a clinic that doesn’t have lot of scheduled
appointments – there are a lot of walk-ins.
So when you’re trying to number patients,
you can’t identify the patient ahead of time;
you don’t know who the patient will be.
So you say we’ll take every fifth patient.
In private practice, everyone’s scheduled,
and the staff calls patients ahead of time
and explains the study to them.” Even
so, Dr. Gillette says, it’s not significantly
harder to get community clinic patients
to participate.
However, there is another challenge,
she says: “In a community clinic setting, you have to
work for an organization, and research has to be really
clear to an executive director or board. Also, you have
such a high volume of patients, [research] can be a hard
sell for a board. They want the clinic to see as many
patients as possible. But most community health clinics
want to see their dentists happy and engaged and
continuing their education.”
PRECEDENT has completed three studies:
• A case-control study of osteonecrosis of the jaw,
in collaboration with two other practice-based re