The POLAR BEAR Study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Paediatric oral health learning and resources supported by behavioural science and research (The POLAR BEAR STUDY)
IRAS ID
274351
Contact name
Sarah Peters
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Manchester
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
20/NW/0074, Greater Manchester East
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
In the UK, the most common reason for children to go to hospital is to have decayed teeth removed under general anaesthetic. This is risky for children and expensive for the NHS. Tooth decay is painful, upsetting, and disrupts eating and sleep.
Tooth-kind habits, such as regular tooth-brushing and eating less sugar prevents tooth decay. Parents want dentists’ help with making these changes. Dentists worry about offending patients and are unsure how to help families make changes.
We have developed an online training course for dentists that is informed by psychological theory. We now want to adapt this training so it is relevant for conversations with parents about reducing their child’s tooth decay and gather information to run a larger study to find out if this new training improves children’s dental health and reduces referrals for teeth removal. We will learn if dentists find the training useful, and whether patients find the conversations acceptable and helpful. We will have information about whether we can run a larger trial to find out if it improves dental health in children and reduces the need for removing children’s teeth. In order to answer these research questions we will conduct a mixed methods pilot study that includes the refinement of the online training programme for dentists. We will recruit ten dental practices and dentalcare practitioners from half of these practices will receive the online training (called POLAR). We will compare the dental health outcomes and attendance at check-up appointments from children aged 0 to 5 years at-risk for dental decay who attend the dental practices where staff have had the POLAR training with children attending the dental practices where staff have not had POLAR training. This study will take place in Greater Manchester and is funded by the NIHR Research for Patient Benefit programme.REC name
North West - Liverpool Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/NW/0074
Date of REC Opinion
18 May 2020
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion