Smiles at Oral Health as new research hub launched
Westmead Hospital has launched a new Oral Health Research Hub that will enhance care of more than 100,000 patients a year.
Western Sydney Local Health District’s Oral Health Service delivers essential general dental care to eligible residents and provides specialist oral health expertise for patients across NSW.
The research hub will promote the flow of research both ways, as integration of research into practice, and promote research possibilities at the clinical service.
Oral Health General Manager, Jennifer Assaf, says the research hub couldn’t be brought in at a better time, as she welcomes 500 new dental placements.
“We’ve got a large cohort of students with us, including students who are training to be dentists, oral health therapists and dentists who are undertaking specialist training for example, within paediatrics and oral medicine,”
Jennifer said.
Jennifer says the launch of the research hub is an exciting initiative for both staff and patients.
“This brings innovation to the front line, it delivers results and it turns really good ideas into real research that can practically improve patient care,” Jennifer said.
Oral health services provide care to more than 2,500 per week through a range of services and treatments.
“We often say that oral health is the gateway to overall health. What we're seeing is that the increased burden of disease, like diabetes, is having an impact on the patients that we see,” Jennifer said.
Mark McLean is the Director of Research at WSLHD and says an immediate benefit of the research hub launch is to promote curiosity and research engagement among clinicians.
“Having our staff empowered to ask questions about what would be a better way to do things, how do I take some new knowledge and implement it in my delivery of care to these people? That's what this is all about,” Mark said.
“We want to enable everybody who works in oral health to take a research and inquiry focused approach to what they're doing in healthcare,”
Mark says integrating dental care into a holistic approach is essential to ensure the work doesn’t remain in a silo.
“It's increasingly recognised that what's going on with the patient's oral health has a huge impact on everything else to do with their health as well.
If we ignore the bigger picture and just deal with their heart, or just deal with their diabetes, then we're completely missing an opportunity,” Mark said.