Dental data resource created for oral health research

A dental data repository has been created as a resource for conducting oral health research, according to an article published on January 23 in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association.

Known as BigMouth, the resource is intended to help cultivate new partnerships between statistical, clinical, epidemiological, and informatics experts, with the goal of shifting dentistry from treating disease to treating an individual with disease.

The archive will allow researchers to assess the oral health status of patients in the U.S., in addition to providing rationale and evidence for new oral healthcare delivery systems. It will also provide opportunities for professional development, according to the authors.

To date, 11 academic institutions have contributed electronic health record data for more than 4.5 million patients. Since its inception, the repository has grown into a mature framework, including a fee schedule for data requests and permitting access to researchers from noncontributing institutions, they authors wrote.