Grant: Oral Health and Oral Health Care of Canadians

Canada lacks information on the oral health and dental care of our population and how these outcomes and services are distributed and evolving over time. Only two national surveys have been conducted in Canada, the last in 2007-2009. To address knowledge gaps and provide present-day information, we propose a collaboration with Statistics Canada through their Canadian Health Measures Survey (CHMS) platform. The CHMS is a regularly repeated survey of the health of Canadians gathering detailed self-report, physical and biological data from a representative sample of people living in Canada. Our proposal is to add relevant and essential oral health clinical and self-report data in Cycle 7 of the CHMS. The project will use Statistics Canada's existing research infrastructure and expertise to address oral health-related knowledge gaps, to explore links between oral and systemic health, and establish a modern, world-class, research platform that will provide numerous opportunities for new research discovery and research training. This project aims to: a) Address research objectives and questions beyond those identified in the call for applications, focusing particularly on: social determinants and inequalities in oral health, oral health care and associated impacts; potential adverse effects of common dental treatments; and the relationships between oral and systemic health. b) Provide capacity building opportunities to a wide range of trainees and early career researchers in oral health-related research and beyond. c) Partner and collaborate with other large, national databank projects such as Health Data Research Network Canada and the Canadian Longitudinal Study of Aging, as well as with international peers running similar national oral health surveys in the UK and USA. d) Create multiple knowledge translation, exchange and mobilization opportunities with a range of stakeholders to ensure findings are widely diffused and used in policy and intervention development.