New research article places women’s dental health under the

Dental Tribune International

Thu. 9. January 2025

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Greenville, N.C., US: As Western societies increasingly come to terms with the inequities that have stained their histories, addressing the systematic disadvantages faced by women has emerged as an especially salient issue. This political discourse is now starting to be absorbed within the dental community, where the unique challenges faced by women within this medical sphere are starting to receive careful consideration. Seeking to extend this crucial line of inquiry, a special meeting was held at the 2024 annual meeting of the American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research (AADOCR) on the topic of women in dental clinical and translational research.

Organised by past AADOCR President Dr Alexandre Vieira, the two-day meeting canvassed how a range of biological, genetic, physiological and cultural factors shape women’s experience of oral health, with the aim of promoting current research on women issues that are relevant to dental, oral and craniofacial scientists. The key points to have emerged from the meeting have been crystallised in a new issue of Advances in Dental Research, a supplement to the Journal of Dental Research.

Speaking to Dental Tribune International, Dr Vieira reflected on the timeliness of the meeting and the resultant article: “It is my opinion that the need to address the topic is overdue. The COVID epidemic exposed more dramatically the consequences of disparities, which are not limited to gaps in the quality of patient care, but include also the lack of representation of women in leadership and the negative impact on the healthcare system from the disproportionate burden that women face.”

Foregrounding these issues within academic research and industry discourse is also a key means of generating practical, lived change within the clinical setting. According to Dr Vieira, the aspect of clinical life most likely to be positively affected is patient outcomes, which he emphasised are measured not only by mortality or morbidity but also by quality of life and patient-centred issues. “We should also observe therefore more women in leadership, mitigation of workforce shortages, better understanding and development of interventions for burn-out, which particularly affects women, and a broader improvement of societal equity and access to quality care,” he continued.

The special meeting marks an important milestone in positioning gender and women’s issues at the centre of discourse within the dental community and has established a robust platform for future research in this area.

The study, titled “Women in dental clinical and translational research”, was published in the November 2024 issue of Advances in Dental Research.