Dental research seeks to find better ways to prevent, identify and treat oral diseases. Researchers are engaged in the process of discovering new knowledge relating to oral health and ways to improve the oral health of the general public.  One of the three missions of the New Zealand Dental Association is "to promote dental and allied sciences".  Although the Association does not undertake research of its own, it promotes and funds dental research in New Zealand through the NZDA Research Foundation.

As per the Ministry of Health's strategic vision ‘Good oral health for all, for life' one of the seven priority areas for action in oral health is to improve the research, monitoring and evaluation of oral health, and oral health services. To support this, the ‘Ministry of Health Oral Research Grants'  funding programme was established by the Ministry, in 2007.  The funds are being managed in partnership with the NZDA Research Foundation Board, which has a well-established and robust grants assessment process.

To know more about these two research grants please click on the link below.