Second Māori periodontist graduate at University of Otago

Dental Tribune International

Wed. 1. January 2025

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DUNEDIN, New Zealand: Māori make up over 17% of the New Zealand population and are twice as likely to develop severe periodontitis as non-Māori New Zealanders are. Worse oral health outcomes among the indigenous Polynesian group inspired Dr Jonathan Martin to undertake postgraduate studies in the University of Otago Faculty of Dentistry and, in December, he became the second known Māori graduate in periodontics in the faculty’s 117-year history.

According to a University of Otago news article republished in the New Zealand Herald, Dr Martin—a young clinician of Tūhoe, Ngāti Whakaue, Ngāti Kahungunu and Ngāti Porou descent—was conducting research for a presentation in 2018 when he came across the 2009 New Zealand Oral Health Survey. Among the findings of the report was an indication that edentulousness was almost twice as prevalent among Māori, owing to various factors including higher incidences of untreated coronal and root decay, periodontal pocketing and loss of attachment. “When I learned that Māori are more susceptible and have a higher prevalence of advanced gum disease, I was convinced to pursue a periodontics specialisation,” Dr Martin told the university.

Upon being awarded the Doctor of Clinical Dentistry degree in periodontics in December, Dr Martin was following in the footsteps of the renowned Dr Albert Manahi Kewene, the only other known Māori periodontist to graduate from the University of Otago Faculty of Dentistry since its founding in 1907. “Albert retired in 2014, leaving a void in the representation of Māori among periodontists, in a specialty that surrounds a disease that significantly affects Māori,” Dr Martin said. The University of Otago Faculty of Dentistry produces two to three graduates in the field of periodontics each year, according to a university spokesperson.

Dr Martin’s postgraduate thesis explored the therapeutic effect of mamaku extract in treating oral disease, using ethnobiology to explore the historic indigenous use of the black tree fern and establish its scientific efficacy. Intra-oral application of a gel containing the extract was found to hold potential in laboratory studies. “While further research is necessary, our research benefited from considering mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) alongside modern scientific methods in developing natural oral therapies,” Dr Martin told the university. Offering his advice to aspiring Māori clinicians, Dr Martin asserted: “Be bold, challenge the statistics, and prove what’s possible.”

Earlier this year, Dental Tribune International reported on a study that investigated oral health outcomes among patients who presented to emergency healthcare facilities in Christchurch between 2018 and 2020. Māori were found to be three times more likely to be admitted for non-traumatic dental problems compared with non-Māori. The study authors highlighted that “being Māori is not a risk factor for health disparities, but rather an indicator of an increased exposure to the impacts of colonisation and racism”.

According to the New Zealand Dental Council, the University of Otago Faculty of Dentistry is one of just two colleges in the country offering accredited dental degrees, the second being the Auckland University of Technology Oral Health Department.