Basic Information

AADSoft is the On-line Index to Computer based Resources in Dental Education. The ADEA Dental Informatics Section has developed and maintained AADSoft , which serves as a resource for both member institutions and individual members of the Association.

The AADSoft database has been in operation for nearly eight years. In 1997, responsibility for the Index was assumed by the ADEA Section on Dental Informatics. Under the Section's leadership, the web site has been updated and expanded from two to six databases and moderators have been assigned to each database. Support for these enhancements was made possible by a grant from the ADEA Council of Sections and through the support of Procter and Gamble, an ADEA corporate member.

The AADSoft Databases

The six AADSoft databases (listed below) collectively define the current state of information technology in dental education. The two Institutional Databases provide insight into each school's information technology endeavors, while the four Software/Courseware Databases are intended to provide a comprehensive list of the software programs available to the dental education community:

All institutions and authors/vendors that have previously submitted information, are asked to update their original submissions once a year. We are always contacting institutions and authors/vendors that have not entered a record into AADSoft, asking them to do so.

Directions

To modify a previous submission or add a new one to any of the six AADSoft databases, please select the Add/Edit option below. Alternatively, users may query the individual databases for specific institutional or software information by selecting the search option below or they may choose the Summary option to view a tabulated summary of the data contained within the databases. Users may also send a message to the moderator by selecting the Mail option.

Background Information

The AADSoft project began in 1993 when the American Fund for Dental Health (AFDH) and the American Association of Dental Schools (AADS) both awarded small grants to the University at Buffalo School of Dental Medicine to conduct a survey and publish an updated Index of Computer based Educational Resources in Dental Education. Dr. Eisner, the director of this AADS/AFDH project, was assisted by Lynn Johnson, Dr. John Williams, and the AADS Information Technology Committee in the design of the project. The electronic survey instrument was distributed in 1993 and the Index was released in March of 1994. The Index offered informatics profiles on 86 dental education institutions including nine international dental schools. It also profiled 309 software programs that were being used, or developed, within the participating dental schools and allied dental programs at the time the Index was published.

When the print version of the Index was complete, plans were made to move the Index, which was stored in a database, to the Internet for on-line access. The University at Buffalo School of Dental Medicine developed rudimentary browsing and editing tools which allow WWW users to find:

• an informatics profile of each institution that contributed to the print version of the AADS Index
• a profile of the software programs used within these institutions, including tips, warnings, and patterns of use
• a summary of current contents of the AADSoft databases
• forms which enable a current Index contributor to update their data, or allow a new user to add either institutional or software data.

This early 'prototype' stayed in service until 1997, when the Section on Dental Informatics adopted the databases and offered to improve their 'look and feel', and to further refine the editing tools which are so necessary to keep such a resource current.

Thanks

The AADS Council of Sections would like to acknowledge, and thank, the Procter and Gamble Dental Products Division for its generous sponsorship of the AADSoft web site. 

(Suggestions for improving our presentation of this on-line resource to the dental education community would be appreciated. To email a specific database moderator use the contact link in the margin or for general site comments send email to Dr. Gary Guest.)