Oral health articles in primary care journals: A bibliometric review.

Objectives: Primary care lacks emphasis on oral health (OH) despite its major effects on one's overall health. This mixed-methods bibliometric study was conducted to assess the content of OH in primary care journals.

Methods: Sixty-seven of the most influential journals were identified from primary care specialties and disciplines using Scopus CiteScore metrics and expert opinion.

A case study on development of a spiral oral health curriculum for medical students.

Inadequate oral healthcare remains a critical public health issue in children and adults in the US affecting adverse social, psychological, economic, and health outcomes. Medical clinicians have a clear role in addressing oral health issues and improving outcomes. Oral health guidelines for health profession schools were developed by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) oral health core competencies, and the newer Center for Integration of Primary Care and Oral Health's (CIPCOH) Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs).

Divergent landscapes of A-to-I editing in postmortem and living human brain.

Adenosine-to-inosine (A-to-I) editing is a prevalent post-transcriptional RNA modification within the brain. Yet, most research has relied on postmortem samples, assuming it is an accurate representation of RNA biology in the living brain. We challenge this assumption by comparing A-to-I editing between postmortem and living prefrontal cortical tissues.

Multiomic foundations of human prefrontal cortex tissue function.

The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is a region of the brain that in humans is involved in the production of higher-order functions such as cognition, emotion, perception, and behavior. Neurotransmission in the PFC produces higher-order functions by integrating information from other areas of the brain. At the foundation of neurotransmission, and by extension at the foundation of higher-order brain functions, are an untold number of coordinated molecular processes involving the DNA sequence variants in the genome, RNA transcripts in the transcriptome, and proteins in the proteome.

Characterizing cell type specific transcriptional differences between the living and postmortem human brain.

Single-nucleus RNA sequencing (snRNA-seq) is often used to define gene expression patterns characteristic of brain cell types as well as to identify cell type specific gene expression signatures of neurological and mental illnesses in postmortem human brains. As methods to obtain brain tissue from living individuals emerge, it is essential to characterize gene expression differences associated with tissue originating from either living or postmortem subjects using snRNA-seq, and to assess whether and how such differences may impact snRNA-seq studies of brain tissue. To address this, human prefrontal cortex single nuclei gene expression was generated and compared between 31 samples from living individuals and 21 postmortem samples.

An Assessment of Oral Health Training in Obstetrical Care in Massachusetts.

Purpose: Oral health (OH) has significant effects on pregnancy and infant outcomes. This study assesses the perspectives of obstetrical clinicians about OH education and promotion.

Methods: A fifteen-item survey was developed and circulated to obstetrics and gynecology (OBGYN) and family medicine (FM) physicians, and other prenatal health clinicians in Massachusetts (MA).

Friendship as Medicine.

Social isolation is a risk factor for many diseases and overall increased mortality. Alternatively human connection has been noted to lead to healthier lives and longevity. Medical clinicians need to be more aware of this condition and consider how to prescribe friendship.

A mobile addiction service for community-based overdose prevention.

Mainstays of opioid overdose prevention include medications for opioid use disorder (e.g., methadone or buprenorphine) and naloxone distribution.

A study of gene expression in the living human brain.

A goal of medical research is to determine the molecular basis of human brain health and illness. One way to achieve this goal is through observational studies of gene expression in human brain tissue. Due to the unavailability of brain tissue from living people, most such studies are performed using tissue from postmortem brain donors.

Why Are Family Doctors Still Not Addressing Oral Health?

Oral health dramatically affects overall health and vice versa. Oral health is a key health indicator for Healthy People 2030. Yet family physicians are not addressing this important health issue at the same level they address other essential health problems.

Evaluation of the Oral Health Knowledge Network's Impact on Pediatric Clinicians and Patient Care.

Purpose: Oral disease has a major impact on the overall health of US children, with dental caries being the most prevalent chronic disease in this age group. Given nationwide shortages of dental professionals, interprofessional clinicians and staff with proper training can influence oral health access. The American Academy of Pediatrics created the Oral Health Knowledge Network (OHKN) in 2018 to bring together pediatric clinicians via monthly virtual sessions to learn from experts, share resources, and network.

100 Million Mouths Campaign: Creating a Pilot Program to Advance Oral Health Equity.

Purpose: More individuals access primary care compared with oral health services. Enhancing primary care training to include oral health content can therefore improve access to care for millions of individuals and improve health equity. We developed the 100 Million Mouths Campaign (100MMC), which aims to create 50 state oral health education champions (OHECs) who will work with primary care training programs to integrate oral health into their curricula.

Partnering for Integrated Care: A Learning Collaborative for Primary Care and Oral Health Teams.

Purpose: The Teaming and Integrating for Smiles and Health (TISH) Learning Collaborative was developed to help health care organizations accelerate progress in integrating delivery of oral and primary care. By providing expert support and a structure for testing change, the project aimed to improve the early detection of hypertension in the dental setting and of gingivitis in the primary care setting, and to increase the rate of bidirectional referrals between oral and primary care partners. We report its outcomes.

The MOHIP-14 (Modified Oral Health Impact Profile 14-Item Version for Pregnant Women): A Real-World Study of Its Psychometric Properties and Relationship with Patient-Reported Oral Health.

Background: The 14-item version of the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14) has been widely used as a measure for oral health-related quality of life (OHQoL) since its publication in 1997. However, few studies have examined its psychometric properties and relationship with patient-reported oral health in pregnant women. Aim: To offer empirical evidence for appropriate use of the OHIP-14 among pregnant women in research and clinical practice.

Why Should Primary Care Clinicians Learn to Routinely Examine the Mouth?

Most medical schools and primary care residency programs do not teach proper oral examination skills. Despite the existence of proven national oral health curricula for medical professionals, many medical trainees and graduates are ill-equipped to identify oral cancers, make proper referrals, avoid unnecessary referrals, or help patients focus on oral disease prevention. This commentary on a case suggests the importance of educating clinicians to promote and evaluate patients' oral health and proposes curricula for and reasonable scope of such training.

Oral health curriculum evaluation tool (OHCET) for primary care training programs.

Background: Primary care training schools and programs lack a validated tool to assess their oral health curriculum, and researchers lack a tool to compare oral health curricula across programs/schools and different disciplines.

Objective: This study describes the process and results of creating a 15-item oral health curriculum evaluation tool (OHCET).

Methods: Three-phased development of the OHCET from 2018 to 2020 including (a) Delphi group/tool development; (b) tool pilot test; and (c) tool validation/cognitive interviews.