Dental health services research utilizing comprehensive clinical databases and information technology

Marketplace pressures for accountability in dentistry have made clear dental delivery systems' weaknesses in information generation, management, and analysis methods. Without this type of information, dentistry is unable to quantify and document the outcomes of the dental care services it provides. The Pew Health Professions Commission and the Institute of Medicine both suggest that dental schools should be among the leaders in the development and teaching of dental information capabilities, as well as the source of fundamental dental health services research. This paper argues that dental schools are the logical location for the development of valid, reliable, and acceptable health services research methods and databases. It describes the development of an insurance claims database to demonstrate the types of investigations possible, as well as the weaknesses and shortcomings of pure administrative data.