Deborah Polk, PhD is a Visiting Associate Professor of Dental Public Health in the School of Dental Medicine and has a secondary faculty appointment in the Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences in the School of Public Health.
Dr. Polk obtained her PhD in Clinical Psychology. After completing a clinical internship, she obtained postdoctoral training in Health Psychology.
Although there is no statutory requirement for dentist to follow evidence-based clinical practice guidelines, guidelines can be considered to reflect best practices. Despite this, studies have shown that providers, include dentist, pick and choose which guidelines to implement. Dr. Polk's lab evaluates the effectiveness of strategies designed to help providers follow guidelines.
Dr Polk's Current Research
Title: Evidence-based Clinical Practice Guideline for the Management of Acute Dental Pain: Development, Implementation, and Evaluation Using Data Analytics to Target An Implementation Strategy
Funded by: United States Food and Drug Administration
Principal Investigators: Deborah Polk, PhD- University of Pittsburgh and Alonso Carrasco-Labra, DDS, MSc, PhD- American Dental Association Science & Research Institute
Description: For managing acute dental pain, there is an urgent need to formalize the evidence-based alternative to opioids in a clinical practice guideline, disseminate the guidance, and facilitate its uptake by providers through an implementation strategy. The objectives of this research program are to develop a clinical practice guideline for the management of acute dental pain, develop and deploy dissemination and implementation strategies, and evaluate the effectiveness of those strategies in changing provider prescribing behavior. Upon completion of the project, it is believed that the field will have an established standard of care, patients will receive safe and effective relief from acute dental pain, and the risk of opioid diversion, opioid use disorder and overdose will be reduced.
Title: An Implementation Strategy for the Adoption of an Evidence-Based Guideline for Pit-and Fissure Sealants
Funded by: National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research
Principal Investigator: Deborah Polk, PhD
Description: The purpose of this study is to determine whether Deliberative Loops are effective in increasing providers' adherence to the non-cavitated caries component of the American Dental Association's pit-and-fissure sealant evidence-based clinical practice guideline. The investigators use a stepped wedge design to randomly assign dental clinics to the Deliberative Loop intervention. In a Deliberative Loop, stakeholders receive background information, participate in a facilitated discussion, and share their views with leadership. The Deliberative Loop intervention is designed to help stakeholders form informed opinions. In this study, stakeholders will be forming informed opinions about the implementation interventions they think will increase their clinic's adherence to the guideline. The investigators hypothesize that compared with the pre-intervention period, following the intervention, providers will place or treatment plan sealants for significantly more occlusal non-cavitated carious lesions.