Areas of expertise
Biography
For more information, please have a look at my attached short CV and publications.
Teaching
I am in charge of undergraduate and postgraduate training (doctoral studies) in my discipline Community dentistry. I am also in charge of training of dental specialists in public health care (one of the five specialities in Finland) in University of Turku.
I have worked as Vice-Head in charge of Education of Institute of Dentistry both in University of Turku and University of Oulu. I have pedagogical training and have obtained Special Qualification of a Dental Educator.
Research
My main research areas are dental fear and anxiety, oral health-related quality of life, oral health behaviors of children and adolescents and schools as oral health promoting actors. We utilize large national longitudinal data set of FinnBrain Cohort Study (www.finnbrain.fi), Health 2000 and Health 2011, Northern Birth Cohort Study 1966 with national and international collaborators.
Among adults we study the prevalence and changes in dental fear as well as the determinants of dental fear (such as physiological, psychological and oral health-related factors). Among children we are interested in the interplay of family-, child-, environment and oral health-related factors in the development of dental fear. We study the association of oral- health related quality of life on different aspects of oral health, dental fear and anxiety and use of oral health services. Research on oral health behaviors focuses on behaviors, attitudes and knowledge and their changes and interrelationships among children and adolescents, especially within family from early childhood. Research on schools as oral health promoting actors aims to find out if these activities (such as sweet and soft drink selling have changed after national interventions and whether there are differences between the schools.