I am so pleased to see so many of you interacting and making use of our new website that I thought I would post something to just explain how it all works for all those new joiners out there.

The main aim of this website is to get all you dentists and dental care professionals involved in directing the research agenda of the Shirley Glasstone Hughes Trust Fund.

What this actually entails is that we need you all to take a moment out of your very busy lives to submit a question or two, relating to your day-to-day practice, that you would really like to have a conclusive answer to.

What we then want you to do is to go through the questions already submitted in the Vote section and "promote" or "demote" them, depending on how important you feel it is to have those questions answered.

Each month you will receive an email from us to gently remind you all to revist the website and vote again to decide which question will go forward for a critical appraisal of the relevant literature. We will carry out 9 critical appraisals in total so keep voting and submitting those questions!

Your questions will not be removed from the site unless they have been on the site for a considerable length of time (i.e. 3 months or more) and have only received few if any votes. So if your question doesn't get voted the top question that month - don't worry, it will remain on the site for at least a further 2 rounds of voting.

This website and this idea of ours is totally new, so we do expect a few teething problems to begin with. We would really encourage your comments and questions. So, if you think a certain area of the website needs a little improvement, or you would like a clearer explanation on how to vote - please do get in touch. Please make use of the "Contact Us" form on the website, and we will get back to you very promptly (I promise). We have heard from a few of you already which is absolutely great, so keep your comments coming!

By carrying out the critical appraisals on the top questions, we will be able to identify those topics/questions that have very little or poor evidence available. These topics will then form the priority areas for our research commissioning.

We hope to have identified a few priority areas within the coming months, and we shall be commissioning research only on this basis. This means that all Shirley Glasstone Hughes funded research has been directly identified by those of you working in practice (the people who really know what needs to be researchered), and what's more the research we commission will be of real relevance to you all and will assist you in your day-to-day practice. So, your participation is vital to ensure a practitioner-led research agenda.

So, don't forget:

1. Submit your questions in the Vote section
2. Take a moment to go through all the questions to "promote" and "demote" them
3. Revisit the site to vote again to decide which question goes forward for a critical appraisal
4. Have some fun while you're doing it!