Basic and Clinical Research: Issues of Cost, Manpower Needs, and Infrastructure

T he purpose of this initiative is to define the critical research, education, service, and leadership roles of dental schools needed to ensure their ability to improve oral health. Although focused on U.S. dental schools, this is a worldwide agenda that seeks to address the recent Surgeon General’s Report on Oral Health in America. The recognition that dental schools are a national resource necessitates a clear and distinct definition of their role in improving oral health through research and education. This paper will outline the basic tenets and infrastructure that schools must embrace in order to grow, nurture, and sustain their research capacity. Fundamental issues must be addressed for dental schools to compete and flourish in contemporary science and research, given that research must be a part of the fabric of their mission and culture. These issues include manpower needs, training scientist-clinicians, infrastructure, costs, and leadership. Although this paper will be primarily devoted to the question of research capacity, it is clear that research and education should be inextricably intertwined. Thus, no matter how much research capacity resides in a dental school, the academic culture will ultimately determine whether science is successfully integrated into dental education, including the cultivation of a “new” student body infused with specific research ideals. Thus, we also include here some characteristics of an educational environment that are necessary components for achieving success in scholarship.