Method: A learned inquiry
Result: Research and discovery, and dental education are intimately linked in myriad ways. Whereas many a clinician often considers research as an esoteric subject that can only be undertaken by experienced researchers, they lose sight of the fact that the mere action of investigating a patient’s illness and the ensuing thought process are analogous to a research inquiry process. For instance, on confronting a patient, the clinician has to question the reason for the patient’s illness, then make an intelligent inquiry into the underlying cause and arrive at a differential diagnosis, and subsequently a final diagnosis. This analytical pathway is almost identical to a research inquiry. As the thinking and rationalization process of a skilled dental clinician and a scientist follow similar algorithms, research and dental education are profoundly intertwined.
Our understanding of basic disease mechanisms is improving in leaps and bounds in the current exciting era of genomics, proteomics and microbiomics. The latter -omic sciences together with the regenerative stem cell sciences are currently revolutionizing the landscape of clinical dentistry to an extent we never envisioned a few years ago. Advances in material sciences are truly phenomenal and has already had a major impact on the way we practice dentistry.
Conclusion:
It is, therefore, critical that budding clinicians have the training, tools and the wherewithal to evaluate new scientific advances and appropriately integrate these into their practice that may last over some four decades into the future. This presentation will address key issues we face in popularizing research in dental schools, and propose considered solutions to obviate these, from the authors own perspective.