Dr Deborah Moore BDS, MSc (PHN), MPH, MFDS RCS (Eng), FDS (DPH) RCS (Eng), FHEA

Personal Statement

I graduated from the University of Manchester in 2004 and worked as a general dentist for 10 years, split between inner city London and Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Working in a variety of primary and secondary care settings, often with high need and socially excluded groups, reinforced the importance of environmental, social, and behavioural factors for oral and general health.

After completing an MSc in Public Health Nutrition at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, I undertook NHS specialist training in Dental Public Health in the North West. Since then I have worked a Consultant in Dental Public Health with Public Health England, as a Specialist Clinical Advisor with NHS England, and as a Research Associate and Clinical Lecturer at the University of Manchester.

My current post combines undergraduate Dental Public Health teaching within the School of Dentistry, with research within the Department of Public Health, Policy and Systems, Institute of Population Health.

My research interests centre on producing actionable evidence for policy makers on how to improve oral health and reduce oral health inequalities. This involves using innovative methods and a range of data sources to evaluate the implementation, impact and cost-effectiveness of oral health promotion and dental services interventions in the real world.

In my teaching role, I am passionate about producing dental professionals who recognise the importance of social and environmental factors for health and can advocate for population health approaches through their clinical leadership roles.

My PhD was a contemporary evaluation of water fluoridation in England, drawing on routinely-collected NHS dental treatment claims data, and water quality monitoring data. This included a 10-year retrospective cohort study funded by the NIHR Public Health Research programme (The LOTUS Study, NIHR PHR 128533). The LOTUS Study used a natural experiment approach with propensity score matching to evalute the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of water fluoridation for preventing NHS dental treament, improving oral health and reducing social inequalities in 6.4 milltion adults and adolescents.

I am a co-applicant on a recently awarded NIHR Health and Social Care Delivery Research grant: An evaluation of an alternative Child Friendly Dental Pathway for Paediatric Patients (The PANDA Study, PI: Dr Michaela Goodwin, Sponsor: The University of Manchester). This study will use realist methods and a range of data sources including routinely-collected data, bespoke quantitative data, and qualitative data, to investigate factors which influence the implementation and longer-term outcomes of this care pathway for children and dental services.