The Ministry of Health Oral Health Research Fund

Health New Zealand currently provides funding for the Ministry of Health Oral Health Research Fund for New Zealand-specific research for community, university or practice-based research in fields related to oral health.  The New Zealand Dental Research Foundation Board has been appointed to administer the fund.  The application assessment meeting for this funding is held mid-to late July each year in conjunction with the annual research awards from the Foundation.  

The Oral Health Research Fund will prioritise funding for:

Research, including, applied clinical, non-clinical, epidemiological, or operational research:

• Related to publicly funded services, in particular the Community Oral Health Service, Maori oral health services, adolescent dental services provided by private dentists under the Combined Dental Agreement, hospital dental services, Health NZ/Te Whatu Ora subsidised/supported basic or emergency oral health care for low-income populations, WINZ-funded oral health care, and Well Child/Tamariki Ora services
• Related to the reduction of inequalities in enrolment and service utilisation within publicly funded oral health services, and in child and adolescent oral health outcomes, particularly for Maori and Pacific children or adolescents
• Related to improvements in maternal oral health 
• Related to service development and service innovation within publicly funded oral health services
• Related to oral health promotion at the personal health level (eg, tooth brushing programmes) and at the population level (eg, community water fluoridation).
• Related to diseases of the oral region in people of all ages with physical, intellectual, behavioural or cognitive disabilities, who are medically compromised and/or have higher prevalence in people experiencing inequalities in outcome (eg Māori, Pacific and low-income populations)

Evaluation and analysis of:

• Models of service delivery, potential new services within existing policy settings, or trials of new service arrangements
• Models of workforce development and training relevant to publicly funded oral health services
• Clinical practice and intervention programmes relevant to the reduction of inequalities in oral health outcomes.

Review and analysis of:

• International scientific and clinical literature relevant to publicly funded oral health services in New Zealand
• Community Oral Health Service data
• Confidentialised Unit Record File (CURF) datasets from the New Zealand Health Survey, the Oral Health Survey 2009, and other New Zealand survey datasets as they become available.