Practice-based research networks (PBRNs) aim to improve clinical practice by engaging dental practitioners in studies that are directly relevant to daily clinical practice. A dental PBRN called “DPBRN” (Dental Practice-Based Research Network) comprises dentists from seven U.S. states and three Scandinavian countries.
All DPBRN dentists complete an enrollment questionnaire about their practices and themselves; to date, 1,086 have done so. To quantify how similar DPBRN dentists are to U.S. dentists at large, we compared DPBRN practice characteristics to those of dentists who responded to the 2004 ADA Survey of Dental Practice, which is not limited to ADA members.
DPBRN dentists were similar to dentists nationally with regard to dentist’s gender, race, ethnicity, number of offices, percentage of patients with insurance coverage, number of operatories, patient visits per week, days for a new appointment, and waiting room time. DPBRN dentists were statistically more likely to be recent graduates.