Dr Janet Wallace is an Oral Health Therapist, Senior Lecturer and the Program Convenor of the Bachelor of Oral Health Therapy program at the University of Newcastle, Australia.
Janet became interested in the oral health of older people in 2009, when she implemented the UON oral health student placement program in residential aged care facilities (RACFs) on the NSW Central Coast, Australia. Since then, as part of their undergraduate degree, final year students have attended a 12 week placement providing residents with oral health education, risk assessments and care plans and have increased the profile of oral health with RACF staff. Janet has 6 years of published research associated with the program and as a result, other Australian Universities have implemented her student placement program.
In 2014, Janet received a $100,000 grant to place a qualified oral health practitioner in 5 RACFs on the NSW, Central Coast to deliver a preventive oral health service, known as ‘Senior Smiles’. Janet is dedicated to ensuring that older people maintain good oral health when they enter RACFs and the ‘Senior Smiles’ research shows that for oral health to be managed positively, it is necessary to have oral health preventive practioners embedded within the RACFs. This area of Janet’s research is currently being extended into geriatric rehabilitation wards at Woy Woy public hospital where oral health students deliver the ‘Senior Smiles’ model of care. In 2017, Janet received a milestone Oral Health grant of $540,000 grant from the Elderslee Foundation Australia to extend the Senior Smiles’ research for another 3 years. Janet provides RACF management and staff and qualified oral health practitioners with the documentation and support to implement the ‘Senior Smiles’ model of care in RACFs. Janet continues to present her ‘Senior Smiles’ research at both national and international conferences while lobbying to increase oral health preventive care for older people living in RACFs.
Janet was induced as a Fellow in the Academy of Dentistry International in 2017, she is a life member of the Australian Dental and Oral Health Therapists’ Association (ADOHTA), an Honorary Member of the Dental Hygiene Association Australia (DHAA), a member of the University of Newcastle, Faculty of Health and Medicine, Research committee, a peer reviewer for national and international journals, an advisory board member for eDen online education for dental professionals, an executive member of the College of Oral Health Academics (COHA), and an appointed board member of the NSW Dental Council.
Janet was a finalist in the 2017 University of Newcastle, Alumni Awards for Exceptional Community Service and is the recipient of the 2017 Gladys M Brawn Memorial Fellowship.
Here are some of her publications:
Wallace, J.P, Blinkhorn, A.S, Blinkhorn F.A. A qualitative study examining the preparedness of dental hygiene students for a service-learning placement in residential aged care. International Journal of Dental Hygiene 2015, DOI: 10.1111/idh.12157
Wallace, J.P, Blinkhorn, A.S, Blinkhorn F.A. An assessment of the educational value of servicelearning community placements in residential aged care facilities. International Journal of Dental Hygiene 2014; 12 (4) 298 -304
Wallace, J.P, Blinkhorn, A.S, Blinkhorn F.A. Dental hygiene students’ views on a Service-learning residential aged care placement program. American Journal of Dental Hygiene 2014; 88 (5); 309 – 315
Blinkhorn F, Wallace J, Smith, L, Blinkhorn, A.S. Developing leaflets to give to dental health advice to Aboriginal families with young children. International Dental Journal. 2014, 64 195 – 199.
Wallace, J.P, Taylor, J.A, Blinkhorn, A.S, Blinkhorn, F. The Development of a service-learning model of health promotion in the aged care environment for dental hygiene students. Thesis/dissertation 2013.
Wallace, J.P, Blinkhorn, A.S, Blinkhorn F.A. Reflective folios for dental hygiene students: what do they tell us about a residential aged care student placement program? European Journal of Dental Education 2013; (17) 236–240
Wallace, JP. Taylor JA, Blinkhorn FA. An assessment of a Service-Learning placement programme in residential aged care facilities for final year dental hygiene students. Journal of Disability and Oral health 2012; 13(14) 163-167
Wallace, JP, Taylor JA, Wallace LG, Cockrell DJ. Student focused oral health promotion in residential aged care facilities. International Journal of Health Promotion and Education 2010; 48(4):111-30
Managing oral health in residential aged care facilities remains a challenge mostly unmet. Yet hygienists and oral health therapists have the knowledge, skills and expertise to make a difference in ...
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