The Eklund Foundation for Odontological Research and Education will award grants totaling approximately 200,000 Euros to support a pair of projects related to cariology. This is the fifth year in a row that the organization has supported research through its grants.
“We choose the acknowledge and support these important projects related to cariology, as they put young people’s oral health in a social context with the aim of creating preconditions for a healthier future,” said Joel Eklund, chairman of the board of the Eklund Foundation.
Valued at 40,000 Euros, the first grant will go to Monique van der Veen, associate professor, and Egija Zaura, chair of the department of preventive dentistry, both at ACTA Preventive Dentistry in the Netherlands.
The researchers’ project is called “Healthy Food and Healthy Teeth in Children from Low SEP: Interventions That Fit the Ideas and Daily Realities of Families with Low SEP in Metropolitan Areas; A Participatory Action Research.”
Caries is a considerable problem among young children in low socioeconomic positions (SEP), the researchers said. Their study will use participatory action research and involve local stakeholders throughout its process.
Valued at approximately 155,631 Euros, the second grant will go to Marie Nordström, DDS, a doctoral student and lecturer with the Department of Cariology, Faculty of Odontology, at Malmö University in Sweden.
Supervised by Gunnel Hänsel Petersson, also of the Department of Cariology, Nordström will study “Salutogenesis Against the Odds—Resilience Factors Among Adolescents.”
Calling it an innovative approach with a focus on salutogenesis among adolescents in socioeconomic vulnerable populations, Nordström said the study will focus on health-sustaining factors as well as underlying resilience factors, which may provide essential information for future oral and general health promotion.
The Eklund Foundation was created through a donation from the Eklund family, owners of TePe Oral Hygiene Products. Previously, it has supported projects related to periodontology and implantology. The application period for the next round of grants will start in spring 2021.
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