Research in Practice – A Recipe for Success

Abstract

I have always been intrigued by the mountain of information we sit on in our dental practices, be they private, public, university or the forces. In this issue of the Journal, we find a wonderful example of “practice-based” research. It is not rocket science, it is not ground breaking, it is not cutting edge, it is not even high tech. But it is practical. I am talking about a report of one practitioner’s experience with dental implants from being a beginner to being an “understander”. When I first received this paper to be considered for publication in our Journal I was taken by how a single practitioner was prepared to document personal experience with a new technology and report on the outcomes. This, in itself, is a brave undertaking. To report on one’s first one thousand implants (warts and all) and let the readers judge is to be admired. Perhaps what intrigued me even more was the collection of co-authors. While one practitioner did the “wet-finger” dentistry, others were recruited to do the analysis. In fact “others” who were not even remotely involved in the day-to-day activities of this practitioner’s placement of dental implants were invited to look at the data, help analyse it and provide comment on the results. Would you expose your practice activities to such scrutiny? I am sure it would be a humbling experience to have the experts look at your clinical performance and then present it in the form of an appraisal of your clinical outcomes and a critique of your success or otherwise. While I am not asking for (and indeed do not want) a flood of submissions of practice-based outcome assessments, I do wish to highlight the point that within each of our daily practices there is a wealth of information. Not that long ago I was approached by one of Australia’s most senior and ageing colleagues who had carried out a retrospective analysis of over 50 years of restorative dentistry in a well focused, progressive, and highly successful private practice. The conceptual findings from these two studies, although from quite disparate aspects of dentistry, were remarkably similar. The take home message from both studies is not dissimilar and, as alluded to above, it is not ground breaking, it is not cutting edge, it is not even high tech. It is practical and simple. The real message is that if you stick to good old-fashioned principles, adhere to the guidelines (whatever aspect of dentistry you practise), work with quality products (with documented proof of successful outcomes), do not overestimate your capabilities and are honest with yourself, then this is a recipe for success. Research in practice does not mean that you have to subject yourself to the two examples I have referred to above. Research in practice can be as simple as appraising, in the comfort of our own practices, our own performance and outcomes. Do you pass the test?