Research evaluation and policy in dental public health

Decision and policy makers in dental public health are confronted increasingly with the problem of which programs make the best use of limited resources and are the most worthwhile investments. One way that the research and public health community can assist the decision process and thereby facilitate policy development is through rigorous, objective, quantitative, policy-oriented research evaluations that synthesize findings from relevant epidemiologic studies of particular oral conditions and clinical trials of preventive and treatment technologies. Issues covered in the most recent research evaluations of oral health topics include the assessment of cost-effectiveness analyses for various procedures and techniques used in caries prevention and oral cancer screening. Several papers in the dental public health literature also have critically discussed basic methodologic issues involved in performing cost-effectiveness analyses and implications of research evaluations for the development and assessment of oral health policy.