Dental Research project for Master's

[toothy2112]

Hi,

Not sure if this would be the right place to post this...

I am wondering if perhaps anyone would have any ideas/insight on how to tie the following ideas together. I am working on finding a topic to complete my research for my Master's Program. Since I am in the dental field and hope to apply to dental school next year, I was hoping to do something related to that. Thanks for any ideas. (My ideas are in the baby stages!)

1. Brushing/flossing and lack of and the correlation with gum disease/health issues. I am planning on using test strips to test gum disease if they become available to purchase and perio charting. Subjects would take an assessment online through the American Academy of Periodontology to assess risk.

2. Plaque scores and the correlation to increased health issues (from AAP). Planning on using the plaque score index and medical questionaires for health risks.

3. Higher bacteria counts of S. mutans/lactobacilli and how it relates to higher rates of decay. Look at present decay as well as decay which has been restored. Plan on using Caries Risk Tests by Ivoclar Vivadent to determine counts.

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[mike3kgt]

Hi,

Not sure if this would be the right place to post this...

I am wondering if perhaps anyone would have any ideas/insight on how to tie the following ideas together. I am working on finding a topic to complete my research for my Master's Program. Since I am in the dental field and hope to apply to dental school next year, I was hoping to do something related to that. Thanks for any ideas. (My ideas are in the baby stages!)

1. Brushing/flossing and lack of and the correlation with gum disease/health issues. I am planning on using test strips to test gum disease if they become available to purchase and perio charting. Subjects would take an assessment online through the American Academy of Periodontology to assess risk.

2. Plaque scores and the correlation to increased health issues (from AAP). Planning on using the plaque score index and medical questionaires for health risks.

3. Higher bacteria counts of S. mutans/lactobacilli and how it relates to higher rates of decay. Look at present decay as well as decay which has been restored. Plan on using Caries Risk Tests by Ivoclar Vivadent to determine counts.

I'd hate to burst the bubble of your inquisitive mind, but all three of these projects would take more time and would be more expensive than a predoctoral and pre-dental master's degree would allow.

Why don't you focus on something simple. #3 is by far the most reasonable for a project in regards to time.

Most of these topics have been quite well documented, you could look in the literature and find something that hasn't been addressed in regards to specifics of these topics and study them.

Working on patients requires multiple levels of IRB approvals, funding approvals on and on. Pick a material subject or questionnaire study alone without patient assessment involvement.

You could take #1 and develop a questionnaire asking patients their flossing/brushing rates / types of toothpaste etc correlated to # of visits to dentist or # of cavities filled. You'd have a significant amount of bias to deal with, but if you have access to dental records at a dental school, you could always go back in the charts and select 100 active patients and look at their treatment over a period of time and correlate that to a questionnaire results.

Now if you are genuinely interested in dental research, go to the schools and get involved in active projects that are ongoing. Most likely you will be a lab rat, but it will get your foot in the door. If you are interested in this type of work to boost your resume for dental school acceptance, you'd be much better off studying to improve DAT scores than trying to come up with viable and legitimate research to lead to a master's degree not associated with a dental school.

It all depends, however, but you don't need to necessarily involved with a dental school. For example, there have been engineering students who have looked at biomechanics of fixed prostheses or dental implant finite elemental analysis that have led to significant publication. You could be involved in a microbiology program that could look at biofilm samples taken from a dentist and team up with them to investigate projects #1-3.

Find a topic that truly interests you and then get a mentor who knows how to get it done.

Good luck.