Professional Product Review expands scope with pilot project
The ADA is celebrating two years of the Professional Product Review by partnering with dental schools in a pilot program that will allow faculty and dental students to become involved in the evaluation process.
The Association’s partnership with the University of Maryland Dental School, the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Dentistry and Virginia Commonwealth University School of Dentistry will allow the PPR to draw from a wider clinical pool and at the same time give students important technical experience.
“The PPR strives to present information that is the most clinically relevant and meaningful,” said Dr. Daniel Meyer, senior vice president, ADA Science/Professional Affairs. “The ADA’s laboratories conduct rigorous scientific evaluations on key features in each product category. By collaborating with dental schools, we can provide readers with comprehensive information that’s generated in a clinical setting.”
Dr. Meyer added that the dental school partnerships will enhance the PPR’s plans to expand product review and evaluations to include clinical techniques, dental therapeutics and new technology.
By working with the PPR, dental students will learn how to select products based on scientific evidence. According to Maryland Dean Christian S. Stohler, there could potentially be a supplemental dental materials course for undergraduate students based on the PPR’s results.
Today’s students are already on top of current technological trends. From an academic standpoint, getting them involved with new products is a natural evolution.
“We have a new kind of student,” Dr. Stohler said. “They are part of a digital revolution. This is the first time in history when we have a generation of students who can outsmart their teachers when it comes to technology.”
He added, “Students today work more in groups and get more information from their peers. It’s peer-bond pressure.”
The PPR is a quarterly newsletter designed to help members with product selection for their practices. Product selection for each review is based on input from members of the ADA Clinical Evaluator Panel, which comprises volunteer member dentists who participate a few hours each month by responding to product evaluation surveys and take part in panel discussions or interviews. Since debuting in July 2006, some 2,500 dentists have joined the ACE Panel. That number will grow further by including faculty and student evaluators. The first project with the schools will be a study on the digital impression system iTero, from Cadent.
“We’re very pleased to forge these partnerships,” said Dr. Mandy Chia, the PPR’s director. “It’s a testimony to the schools’ willingness to share their time and the expertise of the faculty who will oversee these projects and their commitment to involving the next generation of dentists in clinical research. And, it’s a remarkable confirmation that the Professional Product Review has quickly grown to become a valuable and credible publication.”
Dr. John Burgess, a member of the ADA Council on Scientific Affairs and assistant dean for clinical research at UAB, said giving students exposure to technology is critical in their training.
“What I envision is the opportunity to expose dental students to equipment that they will use in the near future,” he said. “This definitely has added value for our students in that they will be able to show practicing dentists the technology and discuss this with anyone they associate with. The PPR is an excellent opportunity to evaluate equipment and technology that would be difficult to use any other way.”
Said PPR Editor David Sarrett, who is also associate vice president for health sciences at VCU, “We’ve had an evolution of the PPR. We are making important partnerships with dental schools to capture greater clinical data.”
“This is a win-win for ADA members and participating dental schools,” Dr. Meyer said.聽