Âé¶¹AV

Oral Epidemiology

Prof. NAITO Mariko

¡¾Research Keyword¡¿
Oral Health, Epidemiology, Cohort study, Quality of Life, Patient-reported Outcome, Dysphagia, Gene-environment interaction, Noncommunicable diseases

¡¾Recent highlights¡¿
The Center for Dental Hygienists¡¯ Education and Training in Âé¶¹AV supported by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. Our missions are the prevention of the turnover and the support for the return to work as a dental hygienist. We have made efforts to organize the center and disseminated information in society. Furthermore, we have built a network of QOL/PRO researchers (). Several collaborative projects supported by the government grants have been conducted in the QOL/PRO research field since 2020.

¡¾Major Papers of the Laboratory¡¿
?Association of physical function with masticatory ability and masticatory habits: a cohort study, BMC ORAL HEALTH, 24(1), 20241024
?Association between the number of existing teeth and maintenance dialysis therapy: A cross-sectional study of adult male dentists, PLOS ONE, 19(8), 20240816
?Association between dysphagia risk and sleep quality in community-dwelling older adults: A cross-sectional study, HELIYON, 10(11), 20240615

¡¾·¡»å³Ü³¦²¹³Ù¾±´Ç²Ô¡¿
The department of Oral Epidemiology is responsible for the education of social dentistry (Epidemiology, Medical Statistics, Oral Hygiene, Public Health Administration). It also contributes to train the dental hygienists who become leaders in national and international oral health. We have started an online journal club for students and faculty stuffs since 2020.

¡¾¸é±ð²õ±ð²¹°ù³¦³ó¡¿
The faculty members (Prof. Mariko Naito, Dr. Rumi Nishimura) are involved in various epidemiological and clinical research. The department trains masters and doctoral students in interdisciplinary research in the specialties of dentistry. Please visit our website ().

The department focuses on the following areas:
?Epidemiological studies regarding associations between oral health and general health
?Molecular epidemiology and gene-environmental interaction
?Associations between health screening behavior, health status and lifestyle
?Research for dysphagia patients and their caregivers
?QOL/PRO research
?Age-related changes in oral sensation
?Associations between oral functions and dysphagia


up