About the Oral Health Promotion Research Group

The Oral Health Promotion Research Group was launched in September 2003 by Dr. Mary O Farrell, Principal Dental Surgeon, aiming to raise the status of Oral Health Promotion in Ireland through the dissemination of good practice based on sound theoretical framework and practical research.

It is a multidisciplinary group that aims to foster the development of joint working and shared experiences in Oral Health Promotion. Each year the group has been supported by The Dental Health Foundation who set up an Award to facilitate Oral Promotion Research and Development within Ireland. We offer a bursary award of up to €1,000 to support new or existing oral health promotion initiatives. Please see attached Bursary details.

One of the benefits of attending the conference is to know that you are part of a group with whom you can share your experiences and knowledge and from whom you can receive support in promoting Oral Health. Anyone with experience/special interest in Oral Health Promotion is very welcome to join e.g health promoters, public health nurses, dieticians, GP'S, speech and language therapists. Our OHPRG Ireland web link has been set up on the Dental Health Foundation website. The Dental Health Foundation also funded a new website for 2021, which can be easily accessed at https://www.dentalhealth.ie/ohprg-new/

Our last Conference in 2019 with its theme” Healthy Mouth” (The Gateway to Wellbeing) was very well attended and appealed to a wide range of health care professionals. Last year we were facing challenging times due to Covid 19 & lockdown, which sadly resulted in the cancellation of our 2020 conference.

Our Conference for 2021 will be held virtually on Thursday morning, 9^th December 2021. Our theme this year is “Where to now?” and we will be presenting some recent oral health promotion programs and views on what the future may bring to Oral health promotion in Ireland. The opening address will be from Dr. Joe Green, National Oral Health Lead. Our speakers include Dr. Dympna Kavanagh, Chief Dental Officer, Department of Health who will discuss the WHO Resolution on Oral Health and what it means for Ireland, and also Professor Richard Watt (Professor of Dental Public Health in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London and Director of Research for Central North West London NHS Foundation Trust).

We hope you can join us on the day.