COHRG

Summary & Principle aims
Community Dentistry has often been wrongly perceived as experts in “administration of dental health services”. Far from that, our group comprises experts from dental public health, clinical preventive dentistry, oral epidemiology and statistics, paediatric dentistry, orthodontics and periodontologists. All aspects of clinical intervention in dentistry has a public health implication in terms of cost benefit, effectiveness, impacts on quality of life, social justice and fair distribution of resources and primary health care services, public health intervention policy and the methods to fund services on a sustainable community scale. The social safety net for the disadvantaged, socially deprived, persons with special needs, changing demographics and values etc – all have an impact on oral health and services. This is where research in community oral health is needed to put into perspective between what is technically clinically feasible and what is realistic and sustainable for the country. Community Dentistry concerns the fair distribution of the benefit of oral health to everyone at the lowest possible costs using evidence based science. Presently, the COHRG is focused on research in the oral health aspects of the Quality of Life affecting the Malaysian population.

Areas of Interests
COHRG encompasses three broad areas research which include:

1. Dental Public Health(Health services research, Health Policy, Planning, Evaluation, Epidemiology, Statistics, Research and Information management, Administration, Health financing, Insurance  etc).
2. Clinical Prevention and interventions of all major dental diseases, problems  and conditions(Fluorides, Sealants, Atraumatic Restorative Techniques (ART), Health education, Health Promotion, Oral health maintenance, habits and cultural perspectives etc)
3. Oral Health Related Quality of Life (OHRQOL)(The burden of oral diseases and conditions on oral health related quality of life including social and economic impacts, Social and Behavioural Science as related to dentistry, etc.)

Currently the group is involved in research with the following objectives:

• to assess the burden of oral diseases and conditions at the personal and population levels
• to assess the social and economic implications of oral disease and conditions
• to develop valid and reliable measures of oral health related quality of life in different population groups.
• to provide baseline data which have the potential to influence national policies, set priorities and evaluate the impacts of intervention and health promotion programs.