Cochrane Oral Health Collaborating Center
at Penn Dental Medicine
Cochrane is a global independent not-for-profit network of more than 37,000 contributors from over 190 countries working together to produce trustworthy, up-to-date, accessible health information that is free from commercial sponsorship and other conflicts of interest and helps healthcare providers, policymakers, and patients, their advocates, and caregivers make well-informed decisions about health care. On January 24, 2011, the World Health Organization (WHO) awarded Cochrane a seat on the World Health Assembly, allowing the collaboration to provide input on WHO health resolutions. Since its inception, Cochrane has defined the methodological standards for conducting systematic reviews around the world.
Cochrane has more than 50 thematic groups across all areas of medicine, including one group specially dedicated to oral health. Cochrane Oral Health (COH) has curated a collection of more than 213 systematic reviews and meta-analyses for over 34 relevant clinical areas in dentistry. The 2020 Impact Factor for COH systematic reviews is 7.324. A review published by Cochrane Oral Health in 2018 and 2019 was cited, on average, 7.324 times in 2020 (the highest 2020 Journal Impact Factor in dentistry is 8.728).
The new Cochrane Oral Health Collaborating Center at Penn Dental Medicine is the first oral-health-oriented review group in the world outside the UK. As a primary goal, the Center will become the leader in the production of evidence synthesis to inform dental practice and oral health policy worldwide. The Center will also focus on extensive capacity building and training a new generation of evidence synthesis researchers who need to face the challenges of a global oral health field that demands trustworthy, continuously updated, and user-tailored syntheses of the best available evidence.
The creation of this new entity places Penn Dental Medicine at the center of the oral health evidence synthesis field globally, in alignment with our mission statement: “To transform global oral health and well-being through exceptional clinical care, innovation, education, and research.”
Dr. Alonso Carrasco-Labra, 