The NCOHR Knowledge Exchange & Mobilization Working Group initiates, supports, and sustains a wide range of activities relating to knowledge dissemination, transfer, exchange, and co-creation of knowledge by researchers and knowledge users.  The specific aims of the working group are to:

• Raise awareness of new knowledge and evidence.
• Increase research impact through uptake and use of science.
• Build greater connections and collaborations.
• Heighten engagement and dialogue between all partners

• The NCOHR Knowledge Exchange & Mobilization Working Group plans to collaborate with the CADR-NCOHR Trainee Development Working Group to co-host a workshop in 2025.  The workshop will focus on trainee development and knowledge exchange and foster an environment which is conducive to not only collaboration and knowledge exchange freely and leads to better trainee development with the support of NCOHR across the Canadian institutions. The workshop is expected to result in a white paper that will be produced in conjunction with both working groups under the supervision of the chairs and disseminated and published.

The NCOHR Innovation Exchange Working Group is focused on enabling translational products and services that are relevant to oral health sciences. Three major themes drive this mandate:

• Oral health is the window to general health.
• There are multiple systemic diseases that are linked to oral health conditions.
• Generally, poor oral health care can dramatically affect the quality of life for anyone.

• Hosted a technology transfer and commercialization workshop (2015; Toronto, Ontario) to discuss proactive approaches with potential to foster opportunities for the technology-transfer and commercialization of research.
• Prepared working paper centred on the theme of Smart Technology within the field of dentistry.
• NCOHR formed a strategic partnership with a national centre of excellence – MEDTEQ+ – to accelerate the development of oral health innovations and bring ideas to market within dentistry.
• In collaboration with MEDTEQ+, the working group designed and launched an innovation competition, in early 2022, for projects that have commercial and clinical viability in the near future and provide a service to dental public health and public/private clinical practice of dentistry.

The NCOHR Aging & Well-being Working Group initiates, supports, and sustains research focused on improving oral health and the well-being of older Canadians:

• By developing innovative models of dental care that enhance access to oral health care for vulnerable elderly individuals.
• By creating effective oral health screening tools to detect abnormalities to allow for earlier and more conservative dental treatment.
• By developing innovative training using technology for non-dental professionals who oversee or provide daily oral care to vulnerable elderly; or for dental professionals to educate them for appropriate interventions on elders experiencing cognitive decline.

• Preparation of a strategic document on oral health research for submission to CIHR-Institute of Aging.
• Identification and prioritization of the target population, adults experiencing age related loss of autonomy, for targeted action to improve their access to oral health care.
• Focus on the validation of a new Senior Oral Health Screening Tool that was developed in collaboration with the dental section of the Public Health Agency of Canada.  See link to tool: https://www.fmd.ulaval.ca/recherche/the-canadian-oral-health-screening-tool-for-seniors
• Create strategies to increase access to early diagnosis and care using new technology to conduct virtual consultations in long-term care facilities

The NCOHR Pediatrics & Growing Healthy Working Group advocates for research, networking and collaboration, and mentorship in the following areas in Canada:

• Promoting the first dental visit by 12 months of age.
• Association between early childhood caries and childhood health and well-being.
• Caries prevention, program evaluation and clinical trials.
• Surveillance of rates of pediatric dental surgery as a proxy measure of the oral health of children in Canada.
• Access to care, including the use of technology (e.g., telehealth).

• Plans to prepare a short proposal to analyze the pediatric dental data from the future Canadian Health Measures Survey.
• Developing a collaboration with Nation’s Dental, which is an arm of Nation’s Health (NH), to advance and promote innovative oral health research and knowledge mobilization focused on priority populations within Canada. NH is a Not-for-Profit multidisciplinary platform that envisions the provision of equitable and accessible health care services for all priority populations in Canada.

To build a foundation for conducting respectful oral health research with Indigenous communities in Canada. This aspiration requires reflecting on questions such as:

• What are the best practices for working with Indigenous communities in Canada?
• What does it mean to ‘decolonize’ research methods and practices?
• In what ways should oral health research respond to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action?
• What must be on our ‘research agenda’ moving forward?

Created in late 2018, the NCOHR Oral Cancer Working Group brings together researchers, educators and clinicians:

• To explore what is known about oral cancer, how to prevent it, and to improve the effectiveness of its treatment.
• To increase oral cancer awareness in the Canadian general population; and
• To inform policies and community action to prevent oral cancers.

• Submitted a grant (not accepted) to evaluate the burden of HPV cancer in Canada in partnership with Merck.
• Prepared a report on the state of oral cancer in Canada.

The NCOHR Orofacial Pain Working Group brings together researchers, educators and clinicians focused on exploring what is known about chronic orofacial pain and how to prevent the transition from acute pain to chronic orofacial pain. The working group includes three core subgroups focused on designing studies to: (1) develop strategies to prevent the transition from acute to chronic orofacial pain, as well as its persistence; (2) assess risk factors and identify biomarkers to prevent the transition from acute to chronic orofacial pain, as well as its persistence and (3) assess the economic and social impacts of chronic orofacial pain and its prevention in Canada.

• Abstract – Canadian Pain Society (Montreal, Quebec; May 2022). Abstract title: Factors and mechanisms involved in the transition from acute to chronic orofacial pain.

The NCOHR Disability & Oral Health Working Group was established in January 2022 with the following strategic aims:

• Promote research on the oral healthcare needs of individuals with special healthcare needs.
• To establish collaborations with national and international organizations to promote research into the physical, material, social and biological facilitators, and barriers of oral health care of individuals with disability.
• Collaborate with both dental practitioners and patient groups to gather and analyze baseline data on the oral health of individuals with disability.
• Create an equitable, diverse and inclusive research environment that will promote research into oral health of individuals with disability at both a pan Canadian and International level.

• Established collaborations with the Canadian Society for Disability and Oral Health (CSDH), International Association for Disability and Oral Health (IADH) and the Canadian Dental Hygiene Association (CDHA). This has led to the initiation of 2 research projects: a) Facilitators and Barriers of Oral Health among individuals with Type1 Diabetes in Canada Researchers – Anissa Gamble, Sharat Pani; and (b) Preparing graduates to care for individuals with Special Health Care Needs– Perceptions from Canadian Dental Hygiene Programs Researchers – Elizabeth Morch, Carol Yakiwchuk, Mary Bretone, Sharat Pani

The CADR-NCOHR Trainee Development Working Group initiates, supports and sustains talent development at different academic and professional levels with an emphasis on the formation of the next-generation of oral health researchers, clinical scientists and other oral health professionals.

• Organized student trainee workshops (2013-2016, 2019) typically in conjunction with a  CADR/IADR meeting.
• Plans to collaborate with the NCOHR Knowledge Exchange & Mobilization Working Group to co-host a workshop in 2024.  The workshop will focus on trainee development and knowledge exchange and foster an environment which is conducive to not only collaboration and knowledge exchange freely and leads to better trainee development with the support of NCOHR across the Canadian institutions. The workshop is expected to result in a white paper that will be produced in conjunction with both working groups under the supervision of the chairs and disseminated and published.
• Create/support local Student Research Groups at each of the ten dental schools.  The objectives are to:
  • Encourage students to participate in research;
  • Provide students with networking, leadership training, and mentorship opportunities
  • Provide opportunities for research collaboration amongst students
  • Change the culture of student research at institutions
  • Provide travel funds and opportunities for trainees to work in different environments.