Denmark's Oral Biobank / Danmarks Orale Biobank

Denmark’s Oral Biobank (DOBi) is a new entity and an addition to the existing infrastructure of the Danish National Biobank. It integrates oral health and disease research with general health at three levels: i) cellular, ii) patient, and iii) societal.

DOBi aims to provide new insights into preventing and reducing health inequalities among at-risk individuals. It will explore screening and monitoring capabilities using salivary and blood biomarkers, with the potential to reduce both oral and general health costs at the patient and societal levels.

 

Denmark’s Oral Biobank (DOBi) is a new entity and a collaboratory addition to the existing infrastructure of the Danish National Biobank (DNB). It integrates oral health data with general health data at three levels: i) cellular ii) patient and iii) societal.

Oral health is the state of the mouth, teeth and orofacial structures that enable individuals to perform functions such as eating, breathing and speaking, and encompasses psychosocial dimensions including the ability to socialize and work without pain and embarrassment. It is increasingly apparent that oral diseases affect the trajectory of diseases outside the oral cavity and vice versa, however, there is currently no available research infrastructure advancing this theme.

DOBi will be the first biobank to provide a comprehensive and structured repertoire of validated oral data, collected by dental professionals to ensure quality and precision. DOBi will advance research in health inequalities that results in cardiometabolic, inflammatory and infectious diseases.

DOBi will recruit participants from the oral care attendees at the dental care clinic, University of Copenhagen. A large proportion of oral care attenders at the clinic are individuals in vulnerable situations covering unemployment and/or disability, who experience disproportionate inequalities in both oral and general health. The data collected include 3D intraoral imaging of teeth and mucosal surfaces, radiographs of the hard tissues of the orofacial region, oral health and quality-of-life assessment questionnaires, saliva, and blood samples from 4,004 individuals. 

The in-house data collection is supplemented by a strategic collaboration between DOBi, the DNB, and the Danish Biobank Register to ensure the necessary expertise and framework for the biobank. This enables researchers to find the needed biological samples and enables Danish healthcare research to take a pioneering role internationally, by providing coupled oral and general health data.

 

 

We have identified four core users, who endorse establishing the DOBi infrastructure. The four core users are listed below:

  • Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen
  • Department of Dentistry and Oral Health Aarhus University
  • Clinic Immunology, Region Zealand’s Blood Bank
  • Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen

 

 

A key aim of this infrastructure is to provide a subcohort of healthy patients within the overall cohort, defined as having 21 or more healthy teeth and gingival bleeding of under 10%. In the DANHES study cohort, this applied to 6.8% of the Danish population. We assume that individuals in vulnerable situations visit dental care professionals less regularly and therefore the prevalence of orally healthy individuals in this group is expected to be even lower than among regular dental care attenders.

To observe a 50% difference between regular and irregular attenders of dental health professionals, a sample size calculation with 90% power was performed using a ratio of 3:1, visualizing the required sample size. Therefore, a total number of 4,004 individuals will be included to account for expected dropouts in longitudinal studies, ensuring a cohort size of 2,402 individuals after a 40% dropout rate over two years.

Regarding other available biobanks, this approach ensures a sufficiently large group for various research questions and biobanks, either for matching or as a control group. While a larger sample size might be statistically advantageous depending on the research question, the sample size presented here reflects the research reality. It aligns with existing infrastructures and supports a sustainable approach.

 

The infrastructure is expected to be fully installed and operational by the end of the sixth month after receiving funding (figure below). This timeline ensures all critical steps are covered and the infrastructure is ready for use with clearly defined milestones marked with stars in the figure. DOBi will provide open access to users following the completion of data collection. The framework includes all the necessary workflows, devices to start the collection and storage of clinical data and biological samples, ensuring an efficient and successful project execution.

 

 

External funding and ethical protocol to be submitted in 2025.

 

 

 

 

Contact

Associate Professor
Christian Damgaard
Department of Odontology
Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences
University of Copenhagen
chrd@sund.ku.dk
+45 35 33 30 23