Menzies School of Health Research project, Strong teeth for little kids, recognised in a top ten of medical research projects

Current topic
Published in the HealthBulletin
Posted on:
23 February, 2011
Issue
Vol 11 No 1, January 2011 – March 2011
Related topics
Current topics Infants and young children Northern Territory Oral health

A preventative oral health project by the Menzies School of Health Research, Strong teeth for little kids, has been recognised as one of the best ten medical research projects in Australia by the National Health and Medical Research Council.

The 10 of the Best Research Projects 2010, describes ten Australian health and medical research projects chosen from among the thousands of NHMRC funded projects. Dental decay is a serious health problem for Indigenous children in remote communities. Measures such as oral health screening and applying fluoride varnish have reduced new cavities among Indigenous children by as much as 36 percent. The research results have been used to influence health policy in the Northern Territory (NT) and contribute towards ‘closing the gap’ in oral health between Indigenous and non-Indigenous children.

Menzies’ Strong teeth for little kidsproject was led by Associate Professor Peter Morris. The research team also included: Ross Bailie, Amanda Leach and Iris Raye from Menzies School of Health Research; Gary Slade from the Department of Dental Ecology, School of Dentistry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Kaye Roberts-Thomson and Colin Endean from the Australian Research Centre for Population Oral Health, School of Dentistry, University of Adelaide; and Bruce Simmons, Remote Oral Health Services Consultant in Alice Springs.

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