An introduction to
Oral health research: some critical reflections
Good health, including oral health, is an essential requirement for obtaining optimal quality of life.
The quality of health care systems is decisive in reaching this goal and is driven by available research evidence and its implementation, both at the level of policy development and clinical practice. However, several situations can compromise this process and impact on the quality of oral health research evidence, accessibility of research outcomes and implementation of the results in daily practice. Some examples: training and education of researchers and dental practitioners; accessibility of most recent and best research evidence; impact of industrial partners and companies; role of dental professional organizations; influence of social media and emergence of novel technologies…
This lecture provides a critical reflection on these aspects and challenges they represent.
Mini Bio
Dominique Declerck
Dominique Declerck is full professor at KU Leuven (Belgium) where she is responsible for the undergraduate teaching in preventive & public health dentistry, pediatric dentistry and special care to dental trainees. She coordinates the postgraduate training program in Pediatric dentistry and Special dental care. Within the University Hospitals Leuven, she provides dental treatment to children, patients with disabilities and medically compromised patients, with main focus on preventive aspects.
As head of the research group Population Studies in Oral Health (PSiOH), her research focuses on the epidemiology (of oral diseases), oral health promotion and research methodology with application in oral health studies.
She was principal investigator of several large-scale surveys on caries experience of children in Flanders, which served as the basis for a close collaboration with the biostatistical group at KU Leuven, allowing the development and/or fine-tuning of several methodological aspects related to epidemiological surveys. This led, amongst others, to the launching of a series of bi-annual International meetings on Methodological Aspects of Oral Health Research, bringing together oral health researchers and statisticians, and an edited book on the topic.
Research activities currently include the oral health monitoring of population groups, more specifically the ‘Oral Health Data Registration and Evaluation Survey’ (OHDRES), commissioned by the Belgian National Institute for Disability and Health Insurance in collaboration with the Scientific Institute of Public Health (Sciensano).
She is (co)author of more than 160 peer-reviewed international papers.