Discipline of Primary Dental Care and Population Oral Health

Primary care is a valuable starting point within the healthcare ecosystem to promote oral health.  With appropriate primary dental care, it facilitates the timely prevention, detection and management of the two most common oral diseases – dental caries and periodontal disease.  Often, the effective management of these diseases requires a combination of prevention and treatment.  The Discipline therefore focuses its efforts on promoting and maintaining oral health through primary dental care, prevention and health promotion.  Dental Public Health, which addresses the art and science of prevention, is championed by the Discipline through a broad range of educational activities in the undergraduate curiculum, research as well as community engagements and partnerships.  The Discipline also looks at how primary dental care can be integrated within the broader context of oral healthcare delivered across a spectrum of settings including the community, hospitals, national specialty centres and intermediate and long-term care facilities.