Involving the public in research.

Patient and public involvement (PPI) in research is a rapidly developing initiative across biomedicine. It recognises that in addition to being the subjects of research, patients, the public and other users have an important contribution to make to the development, quality and relevance of research and to be advocates for oral health research. These aspects are under increasing scrutiny in view of the financial squeeze on public funding and the ethical obligation of the research team to carry out the highest quality activity. This paper is an introduction to involving people in research and provides basic guidance on how to get started.