A dental dataset called BigMouth has used information from the EHRs of more than 4.5 million patients, creating a highly useful research patient data repository, a rarity in the dental, according to a new study.
The study was published Jan. 23 in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association and was written by the researchers who created the dataset.
Through collecting and integrating data from various sources, BigMouth was able to gain a richer understanding of patients and disease, researchers said. The platform allows for exchange between medical and dental EHRs, allowing dentists to have a clearer vision of a patient's holistic health.
The report highlights the importance of having access to reliable data in the dental field as BigMouth has been used to create and refute research hypotheses, increasing the momentum for research. So far, it has been used for clinical research, quality improvement and educational purposes.
"Adoption of BigMouth helps to foster new collaborations between clinical, epidemiological, statistical and informatics experts and provides an additional venue for professional development," the researchers wrote.