Introduction.

Abstract

This is my first year as Chairman of the Australian Dental Research Foundation (ADRF). I have served on the Board and Executive of the Foundation since 2011, as Chairman of the Research Advisory Committee (RAC) from 2011 to 2016, and as a Member of the RAC from 2007 to 2011. As Chairman, I am grateful for the opportunity to showcase the work of our researchers in the Australian Dental Journal (ADJ) ADRF Special Research Supplement. This Supplement provides a snapshot of the completed research projects undertaken by students, researchers and academics from across the country. It provides the busy clinician reader of the ADJ with distilled insight into the efforts of the dental research community, while simultaneously disseminating the findings from these projects to industry and the wider scientific community. Not only is the Supplement an important witness to the work of our researchers and the funding provided by the Foundation to support them; it also acknowledges the individuals, industry and organisations who have supported the Foundation through named research awards and grants. This Supplement covers a wide range of material from motor impairment and oral health-related quality of life issues in children with Cerebral Palsy, through to the exomic profile of oral precancer and the genotoxic effects of alcohol-containing mouthwashes on dysplastic oral keratinocytes. The projects cover the broad areas of basic, clinical and translational research. Bereza and colleagues demonstrate that mice with a genetic mutation in EFNB1 demonstrate increased skull size, eye socket distance and nasal bone width, promoting this as a model for patients with Craniofontonasal Dysplasia. Hamlet and Ivanovski use a diabetic animal model to demonstrate that proteins associated with wound healing and the regulation of inflammation are preferentially adsorbed onto titanium with a micro-rough hydrophilic surface suggesting implants with this surface may better integrate with bone in diabetic subjects. Finally, using modern genetic methods exploring the risk for dental caries in children, Johnson and colleagues found that new bacteria associated with severe decay depended more on a child’s environment, especially diet, than on maternal influences, and that the mix of bacteria in the mouth could be changed by topical applications of disinfectant and fluoride resulting in a health-associated flora which could last as long as a year. The Board of the Foundation is indebted to the Australian Dental Journal and its Editor, Professor Mark Bartold for supporting this initiative. I am also appreciative of the work of the Chairman of the RAC, Professor Saso Ivanovski and the ADRF Services Officer, Jane Levey for assisting with its compilation. On behalf of the Board, I appreciate the opportunity to present this ADRF Special Research Supplement and its abstracts to you.