AMMA News

Prof Peter Warfe (CMVH) and Dr Greg Mahoney (President, AMMA)

President receives PHD in public health dentistry

The Centre for Military and Veterans’ Health (CMVH) in Brisbane recently celebrated the awarding of its first PhD that received substantial support from the Centre.

Group Captain (Air Force) Greg Mahoney PhD is in the area of public health dentistry, and has been working part time on his PhD since October 2005 at CMVH. The degree is the from University of Queensland‘s School of Population Health. However, CMVH assisted by providing desk space, peer support, access to the Defence intranet, and  access to existing printing and software support.

It is hoped his PhD research will help identify at risk Australian Defence Force (ADF) members of having a dental problem in the interval between dental examinations. These risk factors such as oral hygiene, diet and previous dental work were used to establish a predictive model for future dental problems. His identification of at risk members will lead to improved treatment focus, better long term outcomes and altered dental examination intervals.  His data gathered was done through clinical examination, dental chart audits and patient questionnaire.

 It’s been a long haul, but very interesting and rewarding. I’ve learnt a lot,” said GPCAPT  Mahoney. “If anyone had said to me that I would be a doing a PhD which featured statistics in the beginning of 2005, I would have said they were crazy. But, I’ve really enjoyed it.”

“I would really encourage people considering further study to give it a go, you won’t regret it. The support I received from CMVH was a very important, so I would encourage Service Personnel to contact them to see what assistance they can provide to further their education and training. “

Director of CMVH, Professor Peter Warfe said, “It is pleasing to support such paths of study for such a positive outcome. CMVH also provides a suite of Military Health Courses including a Master of Public Health (Defence), a Master of Psychology as well as short courses in areas such as Communicable Diseases, Health Aspects of Disaster and Occupational and Environmental Health.”

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