23-05-2025
Funding to bolster long-running study
PHOTO: ODT FILES
The next phase of the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study's research into oral health is expected to have a ripple effect on many generations to come, following a significant funding boost.
The study's dental team has received a three-year grant from the Clare Foundation, to undertake vital research which aims to understand how oral health changes with age, and the life course histories that are behind those changes.
The study follows the lives of 1037 babies born in Queen Mary Maternity Hospital, between April 1, 1972, and March 31, 1973.
It is New Zealand's longest-running longitudinal study and is considered the world's most detailed study of human health and development.
University of Otago Sir John Walsh Research Institute multidisciplinary dental research group leader Prof Jonathan Broadbent said the grant would be used to support the collection and analysis of dental data in the study's age 52 assessments, which started last year.
No other birth cohort study in the world had been dentally assessed from early life to this age, he said.
"Oral health has been an integral part of the study since the members were only 5 years old.
"Some study members have had ongoing dental problems through life, others have developed problems as they age, while others have had no tooth troubles at all.
"It is essential to understand how oral health changes with age, and the life course histories that are behind this."
He said a team of researchers with dental specialties, including public health, periodontics, endodontics, prosthodontics, Māori health, and qualitative and quantitative research methodologies, would work together to produce and share information on the natural history of oral conditions and early dental ageing.
It aimed to better understand people's experiences of oral conditions and oral healthcare services and identify factors that promoted equity in oral health.
Study biostatistician Associate Prof Andrew Gray was excited about the data being collected.
"High-quality statistical analyses start with great data, and the Dunedin Study is unparalleled in that respect.
"This all flows from the amazing generosity of study members who keep coming back for assessments."
Prof Broadbent said he was "extraordinarily grateful" to the Clare Foundation for the funding, which would allow the wider assessment to continue.
