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Interview


Centre of excellence The University of Dundee’s status as a world-leading centre for dental research was confirmed once again in October, when it received UK Government- endorsed redesignation as a World Health Organisation (WHO) Collaborating Centre until 2018. In particular, this provides further endorsement of the pioneering work on cleft lip and palates being carried out by Professor Peter Mossey and his colleagues at the University. The Collaborating Centre system is an


important part of the WHO approach. As Mossey explained: “WHO depends on the developed world or, as it says, ‘high-income countries’ to help them with research initiatives in other parts of the globe. The Centres are able to transfer technology and knowledge to areas of the world where it is less accessible.” Among other things, the system can


be of use in times of crisis. For example, the current outbreak of ebola virus in West Africa is being tackled by medical personnel on the ground and by experts in infectious diseases around the world, such as CDC (Centers for Disease Prevention and Control) in Atlanta, and Collaborating Centres in the UK and Europe and other parts of the developed world where acknowledged expertise exists. Universities and academic departments


benefit from the prestige associated with WHO Collaborating Centre status. As well as providing recognition that they have a certain level of expertise, it confirms their capacity to deliver services to the developing world. Equally important, if a department or discipline within a university is seen as a world leader by virtue of it being approached to become a Collaborating Centre, there are significant advantages when it comes to international grant funding applications.


Specialised area Mossey said: “At Dundee, we are recognised as having international expertise on


continue to work for the WHO as a Collaborating Centre, and furthermore if it would be acceptable to Dundee for this expertise to be channelled into the WHO’s department of oral health. As well as moving from one WHO department to another, the redesignation allowed us to expand our area of focus.” As Mossey said, the redesignation brings


in other areas of public dental health and acknowledges Dundee’s expertise in dental health services provision, perhaps most obviously seen through its world-renowned Dental Health Services Research Unit (DHSRU), led by Professors Jan Clarkson and Ruth Freeman, which – adding to its existing expertise – recently became home to the UK Centre for Evidence-Based Dentistry. The long-standing Collaborating Centre


status enjoyed by the University of Dundee has helped Mossey establish research programmes in India, sub-Saharan Africa and Brazil. He said: “In December, I am heading


“Redesignation allowed us to expand our area of focus”


certain birth defects, in particular cleft lip and palate. Our original designation was in 2004. At that time it was purely for craniofacial abnormalities, quite a specialised area. “In fact, the University of Dundee and


the University of Manchester are the only two Collaborating Centres in the world specifically dedicated to this discipline. Redesignation became necessary when the department of genetics at WHO central headquarters in Geneva was closed down. “I was approached by WHO HQ in Geneva and asked if I would wish to


DEDICATED TO ELIMINATING DENTAL HEALTH INEQUALITY


“There has been an explosion in the knowledge in the area of genetics in chronic and non-communicable diseases over the last few years,” observed Peter Mossey. “I’ve been fortunate to have seen these developments and make a contribution to some of them. “While working with a collaborative European group, we were the first unit in the world to publish a genome-wide


association study for cleft lip and palate.” Mossey grew up on a farm in rural Ireland, near the village of Gortin in Co Tyrone. After studying at the Christian Brothers grammar school in Omagh, he applied to study dentistry at the University of Dundee Dental School. When he qualified in 1983, he went into general dental practice and practised on both sides of the Irish


to India to finalise the analysis of a pilot project we have been carrying out there. At Dundee, we identified that maternal smoking, which is a significant risk factor for cleft lip and palate in the Western world, is not so prevalent in India and in other parts of the developing world. However, it could be that environmental pollution due to domestic cooking and heating contamination is the surrogate of smoking there. We are monitoring maternal exposure to smoke in the domestic environment, and the presence of carbon monoxide, nitrous oxide, sulphur dioxide and particulate matter, to determine if these are responsible for babies being born with cleft lip and palate.”


Basic question Mossey’s research over the past 20 years has in large part been fuelled by the question he was asked most often by the


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border, in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh and Ballyshannon, Co Donegal. He said: “What I witnessed then was some of the most stark examples of dental health inequalities in populations living a few miles apart, by virtue of different health administrations, and I have never forgotten that.”


Recognising the need to expand his skills in surgical practice, he returned to the hospital system and carried out house officer and senior house officer


Scottish Dental magazine 25


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