Alexandria, VA, USA – A Symposium exploring the role of big data in dental, oral, and craniofacial health research was presented at the 102nd General Session of the IADR, which was held in conjunction with the 53rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research and the 48th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association for Dental Research, on March 13-16, 2024, in New Orleans, LA, USA.
Big data analytics rely on complex datasets that are known for volume (the size of data), velocity (the rate of data generated and acted on), variety (the types of data), and veracity (the trustworthiness of data). Such datasets can be used to understand and explore patterns, associations and trends in diseases and improve the quality of clinical care and clinical outcomes. There are only a few oral health databases available for research and the advancement of evidence-based dentistry. This symposium highlighted several of these and their applications in improving oral health.
Presenters introduced BigMouth, a multi-institutional centralized repository that aggregates data derived from electronic health records (EHRs) at 11 United States-based dental schools, as well as the IBM Watson MarketScan Medicaid Database, which contains medical, surgical, and prescription drug experiences for more than 44 million Medicaid enrollees. The SingHealth Registries from Singapore and their use in studying the predictive modeling between oral and systemic health were also examined. This symposium demonstrated how clinicians, researchers, and policy analysts can leverage these datasets for various purposes, including the determination of study feasibility, the execution of population health/observational studies, and the support of QI efforts.
Organized by Jane Barrow and Bunmi Tokede, the Symposium, “Big Data in Oral Health: Innovations and Applications” took place on Wednesday, March 13, 2024 at 1:30 p.m. Central Standard Time (UTC-6).
About IADR
The International Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research (IADR) is a nonprofit organization with a mission to drive dental, oral, and craniofacial research for health and well-being worldwide. IADR represents the individual scientists, clinician-scientists, dental professionals, and students based in academic, government, non-profit, and private-sector institutions who share our mission. Learn more at www.iadr.org.
About AADOCR
The American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research (AADOCR) is a nonprofit organization with a mission to drive dental, oral, and craniofacial research to advance health and well-being. AADOCR represents the individual scientists, clinician-scientists, dental professionals, and students based in academic, government, non-profit, and private-sector institutions who share our mission. AADOCR is the largest division of IADR. Learn more at www.aadocr.org.