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The Oral Health Services Research Centre is located in a purpose-built facility providing optimum clinical and laboratory conditions together with well equipped conference and research services.

The centre has three complementary facets:

  • It is a clinical research testing facility providing services for the international oral healthcare industry.
  • It is a health and health services research centre which holds peer reviewed research grants and commissioned research contracts nationally and internationally (WHO collaborating centre for Health Services Research).
  • It is a postgraduate research and teaching centre supporting students in epidemiology, health services research and related disciplines.

It was established in 1983 in response to growing demands for Oral Health Services Research projects from health agencies in Ireland and overseas, seeking appropriate policy information for the proper planning of dental services.

The Oral Health Services Research Centre has conducted clinical trials of oral health care products for industry since 1994, with over 20 studies conducted to date. Subjects are recruited from the local population, with up to 400 subjects being randomised per study.

Prior to commencement, all clinical trials have the approval of a properly constituted local Ethics Committee and of the regulatory authority (Irish Medicines Board).

A full service is available, including trial design, protocol writing, clearance with Ethics Committee and Irish Medicines Board, recruitment and screening of volunteers, stratification procedures, product dispensing and reconciliation, impartial interviewing techniques, validation procedures, microbiological measurements, biochemical tests, quality control, statistical analysis and report writing. All studies are performed in accordance with Good Clinical Practice guidelines.

An in-house clinical trials examiner is available on site. She has been trained (and calibrated where appropriate) in the following standardised indices / examination techniques:

  • Caries: Backer-Dirks, Bennie, FOTI, Quantitative Laser Fluorescence, x-ray
  • Plaque: Turesky Modification of the Quigley Hein Index, Rustogi Modification of Navy Index
  • Gingivitis: Löe and Silness, MGI, Ainamo and Bay Gingival Bleeding Index
  • Enamel opacities: Thylstrup-and Fejerskov Index, Developmental Defects of Enamel Index, Quantitative Laser Fluorescence
  • Stain: Lobene Index, McPherson Modification of Lobene Index
  • Sensitivity: Pressure (Yeaple probe), thermal (water at 5oC) and evaporative (air blast) stimuli.

There is a well-equipped laboratory used mainly for plaque pH studies and fluoride analysis of oral health care products, foods, beverages, body fluids and body tissues.

The Centre works closely with the Health Services Executive (HSE) Dental Service.
Profile of the OHSRC

Director
Professor Helen P. Whelton, BDS, PhD, MDPH, MFPH.

Professor Emeritus
Denis M. O'Mullane, BDS, PhD, FDSRCSEd, FFDRCSI

Projects Manager
Maria Tobin, RGN, SCM, BSc Hons

Office Manager
Susan O’Donovan, Dip Business Studies & Tourism, Dip Prof Sec Skills

Health Services Research Fellows
Michael Cronin, MSc
Deirdre Browne, BDS

Researchers
Paul Beirne, BDS, MDPH, PhD
Evelyn Crowley, BDS, MSc, DDPHRCS
Rose Kingston, BDS
Noel Woods, BA (Econ and Computer Sci), MA (Health Econ)
Edel Flannery, BSc (Mathematical Sci & Computing)
Tara Crowley, BA Hons (Applied Psychology & Sociology)
Virginia Kelleher, MA (Econ)

Research Assistants
Helena Guiney, BA (Economics & Maths), MA (Economics), MSc (Multimedia Technology)

Laboratory Technician
Eileen MacSweeney, Nat Dip Appl Biol, Nat Cert Sc, Part Dip Chem Tech

Clinical Trials Co-ordinator
Maura Gallagher, RGN, SCM

Senior Executive Assistant
Theresa O’Mahony, DSA

Executive Assistants
Ita Rattray
Jennifer Leyden

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It has directed national surveys on the oral health of both children and adults and also carried out surveys for regional health authorities in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Currently, staff are engaged in directing and analysing National oral health surveys of adults, children, children with special needs, intellectually disabled adults and the elderly in residential care. The team is also reviewing aspects of the HSE dental services and analysing patterns of uptake of general dental practitioner services by medical cardholders.

Full-time research fellows and graduate students are engaged in research on behalf of national funding agencies such as the Health Research Board (HRB). The OHSRC has recently been funded by the HRB to conduct two major studies entitled "The Benefits and Risks of Fluoride on the Island of Ireland" and "Developing evidence-based clinical practice guidelines for the health board dental services in Ireland".

The Centre is also active in EU projects and was a participant in the AIM (Advances in Informatics in Medicine) programme. The Oral Health Services Research Centre was the co-ordinating partner for two projects under the EU third and fourth Research and Technological Development Programmes, and a collaborating partner in a further project under the EU Fifth Framework Programme. The centre participates in an international fluoride research programme funded by the NIH.

The Centre has an international profile and in 1986 was designated a WHO Collaborating Centre for Oral Health Services Research. This designation is periodically renewed, most recently in March 2003 for a further 4-year period to March 2007. In this capacity the OHSRC provides data for the WHO global data bank and has participated in various projects worldwide such as a feasibility study for water fluoridation in Saudi Arabia and the writing of the WHO document "Fluorides and Oral Health" (1994).

The centre provides support for international researchers supporting the development of dental public health overseas.

Research interests of the Centre include:

  • design, conduct and analysis of clinical trials
  • caries prediction
  • root caries
  • saliva
  • fluoride ingestion and absorption
  • enamel fluorosis
  • chewing gum usage
  • oral epidemiology
  • use of large oral health care payment databases to inform system design and development
  • cost effectiveness of various oral health strategies

The Centre has strong links with the Departments of Statistics, Economics, Chemistry, Microbiology, Applied Social Studies, Psychology, Computer Science and the Computer Centre whose staff have worked on collaborative projects, and of course with the other departments within the Dental School.

Many of the professional staff in the Centre contribute to the teaching of Dental Public Health at both undergraduate and postgraduate level in the Dental School. The centre hosts postgraduate students at Masters and PhD level in epidemiology and disciplines relevant to dental public health. It hosts the taught Masters programme in Dental Public Health in University College Cork.
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