Ali Segal, a first-year dental student at the University of Toronto, started the Oral Health Total Health Campaign to raise awareness in the community, dental profession and allied health professions of dental disease and care for persons with disabilities. The program’s goal is to raise funds needed to buy new equipment for the renewal of the clinical program. The campaign culminated this year in the Sharing Smiles Day, held in Halton, which brought together persons with disabilities with dentists and dental and hygiene students in a fun day that included oral health instruction.

The Temporomandibular Joint Reconstruction Program developed an educational DVD that will be used to provide community-based education on this complicated procedure.

The Dental Program for Persons with Disabilities developed an oral hygiene instructional video that will be distributed by Community Living Ontario to all group homes in the province.

The Department of Dentistry Research Division under Dr. Howard Tenenbaum is starting a research program that will address possible links between oral health and general health. The focus will be on diabetes, cardiovascular disease and low birth weight infants/preterm birth and the possible association with oral disease such as gum disease and cavities. The program will involve multidisciplinary teams and potential collaborations with other hospitals and universities.

There was further development of a program for the oral rehabilitation through dental implant systems of people who have lost teeth and oral function due to head and neck cancer.