Dental Medicine, Cleft Lip and Palate
Contacts
Wendy Nicholls | Clinical Research Associate
wendy.nicholls@health.wa.gov.au
In accordance with the role of PCH as the centre of specialised paediatric tertiary health care in Western Australia, the Department of Dental Medicine has developed as one of the many specialist surgical services within the current structure of the hospital.
The Department of Dental Medicine is the proven centre for paediatric dental expertise and training in Western Australia. The Department embraces the philosophy of integrated multidisciplinary treatment, utilising the knowledge and skill of the dental and medical specialties available and is an integral part of the Cleft Lip and Palate Unit, and the Craniofacial Unit.
As well as providing specialised multidisciplinary treatment, the Department also undertakes research across the disciplines to determine the best patient outcomes and evaluate and integrate emerging techniques and treatments. All clinicians have a vested interest in ensuring treatment provided has the most beneficial impact on their patients. As well as providing clinical training for paediatric dental registrars, research is undertaken by the registrars with the aim of assessing and improving the patient outcome and experience as required. Consumer input and partnership provides valuable and insightful information which is influential in translation to patient outcome measures.
Current Research Projects
Research is an integral part of the work of the team. Key Department research priority areas include pre-surgical orthopaedics’, refugee and underprivileged oral health provision and uptake, psychosocial impact of cleft lip and palate and related anomalies, oral health quality of life of patients with cleft lip and palate and surgical and treatment outcomes of patients at growth maturity. Currently completed research projects include:
- Arresting Dental Caries in Refugee children: A double blind randomised controlled clinical trial
- Pre-surgical orthopaedics: geometric morphometric analysis
- Optical scanning and digital workflow for neonates with cleft lip and palate
- Oral health status, barriers and enablers to care of newly arriving refugee children
- Oral-health related quality of life of refugee children
- Eradicating infant oral mutilation - a call to action
- A Cross-sectional Descriptive Analysis Of Dental Treatment Under General Anaesthesia In Hospitalised Western Australian Children In 2018 – 2019
- Cost-effectiveness of paediatric dental treatment in Perth Children’s Hospital in 2018
- Comparing the outcomes of gold-standard dental examinations with photographic screening by mid-level dental providers
- Retainer retention and compliance following completion of definitive orthodontic and prosthodontic treatment
- The psychosocial impact of oligodontia
- Satisfaction and compliance with prosthodontic treatment
- The psychosocial impact of cleft lip and palate
- Dental anomalies in patients with cleft lip and palate
- The assessment of digital study models using the GOSLON yardstick index.
- Ectodermal Dysplasia – a patient psychosocial perspective
- Adult specific life outcomes of cleft lip and palate
- Healthcare Providers' psychosocial support for patients with a cleft: Europe and Australia
- Dental Emergency Attendance at an Australia Tertiary Children’s Hospital
- Cleft birth prevalence and hospitalisations in Western Australia
- A review of 30 Years of Alveolar Bone Grafting in the mixed dentition using a standardized protocol in Western Australia
- Cross-sectional analysis of dental treatment under general anaesthesia in hospitalised Western Australian children
- Adult narratives of the psychosocial impact of cleft in a Western Australian cohort.