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Monique van der Veen

Leader WP1

Monique van der Veen is professor of Monitoring in Oral Health and Prevention at the Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam (ACTA). She chairs the Department of Pediatric Dentistry, at ACTA and is a Lecturer/Researcher at the Department of Oral Hygiene, at Inholland, Amsterdam.

She has expertise in Preventive dentistry, Public health, Community Service Learning, Participatory action research, Inter- and transdisciplinary collaboration, Cariology, Diagnostics, Monitoring and Tissue optics/photonics (Fluorescence photography, QLF).

The current focus in her research lies on health inequalities and how to relieve these through the development of public health interventions. Means towards targeted prevention are sought through community service learning projects, where participatory action research (PAR) further the understanding why interventions suitable for certain groups will not work for others. PAR teaches how interventions can be created to fit the needs of the target group in order to reduce oral health disparities in society. These disparities are mostly related to socioeconomic position, migration background, presence of systemic diseases or disabilities and age. Mechanisms involved in the maintenance of oral health are studied taking environmental and overall health aspects of specific target groups into perspective. Within this process a trans- and interdisciplinary approach is used to promote a common risk factor approach so the system around lifestyle diseases.

Other topics are oral health monitoring and personalized prevention that focuses on individuals or specific groups in society. Personalized prevention can benefit from the use, at the clinic or at home, of diagnostic tools that provide insight into oral health or deviations thereof. Such tools help the oral healthcare professional to detect changes in risk status, such as when caries or periodontal diseases develop. And it helps patients monitor and create ownership of their own oral health.

Within MetaHealth Monique is the lead op work package 1: Inclusivity and engagement of families in research and intervention development.