Newsletter DDS days, June 2024

Dear Reader,

On Friday, June 14, 2024, the second partner day of the ORANGEForce project took place. The day coincided with the Dutch Dental Science Days of all dental care training programs in the Netherlands and was well attended. In addition to the researchers, there were representatives from various partners such as Philips, KIMO, the professional associations KNMT and NVM, the Dutch Association for Gerodontology, NIVEL, Vitadent, the new partner Omnios, the elderly delegation from NUZO, and other dental care professionals. RIVM, VWS, and Health Holland also followed the latest developments of ORANGEForce with great interest.

The morning program began with a series of presentations from various researchers across all research lines, showing that significant progress has been made in achieving the objectives of this consortium. New methodologies have been tested to make saliva and mouth rinse samples suitable for biomarker analysis. The use of intra-oral sensors to continuously measure the pH level in saliva was also presented. Additionally, ethical issues and outcomes regarding the sharing of data between dental care and general practice were discussed. The coordination of integrating dental care and general practice data was addressed. In test regions, interprofessional collaboration between various healthcare and welfare professionals was introduced and further developed based on the experiences of those involved.

In the afternoon program, Mr. Jan Benedictus, program manager of the Dutch Patient Federation, conducted an interview round with the leaders of ORANGEForce’s research lines. He questioned them about the challenges in the research and their greatest successes. HEALTH-Holland was also present, represented by Lisa Büller. At this midpoint of the project, we reflected on the achieved results, as well as potential obstacles and adjustments to the original plans. Overall, the learning curve is high, and the project’s impact is already evident in several areas.

To exchange ideas with partners and other stakeholders on how to achieve even greater impact and potentially extend the ORANGEForce project, we organized four breakout sessions in the afternoon:

  1. How to organize the best oral care for vulnerable elderly people, in collaboration with Vitadent, among others;
  2. What can be done to better implement guidelines in oral care, in collaboration with KIMO, among others;
  3. How saliva and oral rinses can be utilized, for which target groups, and what the benefits and potential barriers are;
  4. The wishes, possibilities, and challenges in setting up a register of oral health and dental care data.

With great enthusiasm, it was determined to collaborate further with others, including other PPPs (Public-Private Partnerships) from Health Holland, to develop new initiatives and advance our vision and mission towards a healthy-mouth Netherlands.

In the afternoon, we also bid farewell to Willem Fokkema, project leader of ORANGEForce. Willem was the driving force behind this consortium and guided us all effectively in achieving the set objectives. We thank Willem for his tremendous dedication and wish him a wonderful retirement.

We hope to see all partners and researchers again at the next partner day in a year. The date will be announced as soon as possible.