Spotlight on Caries
Caries is the most common disease in the world. In total, there are around 3 billion people – children and adults – with untreated caries walking on this earth. But despite the fact that caries globally is a major health problem with high societal costs, it is not a priority when it comes to research funding.
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Better dental health for everyone
Tooth decay affects those with a low level of income and education to a greater extent than other groups. Why that is, and what we can do about it, is the number one research question within the field of caries.
Improved dental health among the elderly leads to more caries
Caries is a growing problem among the older population. Paradoxically, this is caused by improvements made in geriatric dental care.
“Suddenly I had 16 cavities”
When you have Parkinson’s, the fine motor skills deteriorate, which makes brushing your teeth more difficult. This can lead to deteriorating oral health, something Mats Heiman experienced.
“Now it is not that scary”
Astrid Linder was afraid to go to the dentist but her mother heard about a treatment and helped her get a spot.
Odontophobia leads to poorer dental health
One in five adult Swedes say that they experience some form of anxiety when going to the dentist and the consequences can be dire.
Helping families to improve dental health
Houda Bahri works with counselling families towards improved dental health. Since she speaks Arabic, her focus is on helping Arabic-speaking families. "Many families come from areas marred by conflict, they have gone through gruelling situations, they have come face to face with death, so dental health has never really been a priority", she says.
Studying antibiotic use in dentistry
Bodil Lund is a dentist who is researching how the dental care services can help to stem antibiotic resistance by making more prudent use of antibiotics. Her work also includes the diagnosis and treatment of temporomandibular (TMJ or jaw joint) problems.
Studying the importance of oral health
Pedagogical issues, in both dental education and dental care, are along with patients’ experiences of periodontitis two main themes in Annsofi Johannsen’s research. She is also head of KI’s dental hygiene programme.