Thousands of Australians to be offered a free dental check-up for new oral health study

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Around 15,000 Australians will be invited to attend a free dental check-up as part of the country’s first major oral health study in over ten years.

Thousands of Australians will be selected at random as part of a study, which will take place over the coming 12-24 months. Researchers involved in the study will be looking at factors that influence dental health, including sugar consumption, fluoride and tobacco. The findings will be used to adapt and modify dental health policies used by the government in the future.

Director of the Australian Research Centre for Population Oral Health at the University of Adelaide, professor Marco Peres, explained that the study would focus on “oral health behaviours”. Researchers will be looking at issues like barriers to dental care and the provision of affordable dental treatment, as well as gauging information about oral health habits and how frequently patients attend routine appointments.

Researchers will be using information obtained from the 15,000 participants, as well as continuing to track more than 5,000 people who took part in a study conducted in 2005/2006.

Professor Peres said that comparing figures and data should enable the government to see how policies are working. The team is expecting to see a reduction in oral diseases linked to smoking, for example, and reduced rates of decay in some areas may be linked to access to fluoridated water.

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