Practice-based research networks have existed in medicine for many years, but they are relatively new in dentistry. Practice-based dental research is carried out in the 'real world' setting of dental practice. It encounters many problems, especially related to the clinicians' treatment decisions and their variations in assessments of clinical quality. Practice-based dental research networks have been active in Europe for the last 10-15 years and new practice-based dental research networks have recently been funded in the USA. They have been charged with the establishment of networks to carry out short-term clinical studies that have been proposed by clinicians to solve the problems they encounter in daily clinical practice. Data sharing and communication within and among the networks and with the dental community at large are a primary goal to become successful and optimally serve dental practice. A secondary goal is to conduct chart reviews on disease and treatment patterns and obtain estimates of the prevalence of less common conditions. An outline of a possible establishment of a research network is presented and the potential to institute a programme for practice-based testing of dental materials and procedures is suggested.