Big Mouth Tower Hamlets
The 'Big Mouth' Project: Shaping oral health research priorities through community conversations
We are excited to launch the “Big Mouth” Tower Hamlets project, which aims to capture the ideas, topics, and questions that people in Tower Hamlets think we should look at in our future research in the dental school. This project is funded by the Centre of Public Engagement in collaboration with Social Action and Health and supported by the Tower Hamlets Council Volunteer Services (CVS).
Oral health encompasses more than the state of a person’s teeth but includes their ability to speak, eat, socialise, and smile without pain and embarrassment. This definition highlights the compelling need to move beyond Dentistry and disciplinary silos, which is the reason why this project is located in the new HEALS joint centre for Health, Humanities and the Arts.
Oral health research has largely focused on disease, often highlighting Tower Hamlets as the borough with the worst oral health outcomes and the lowest number of service users. However, Tower Hamlets also hosts 1,300 voluntary organisations, including charities and faith groups supporting health-related activities. This project aims to shift the perception of Tower Hamlets residents from passive recipients of health services to active participants in health research.
The Big Mouth project facilitates this shift using conversations to capture residents’ and QMUL researchers’ ideas about the oral health research that should be prioritised to help people achieve wellness. The name “Big Mouth” reflects the goal of empowering residents to voice their perspectives and influence research priorities and impacts.
The aims
- Capture the views of Tower Hamlets residents about the oral health topics and research questions that they think will improve oral health and wellbeing.
- Facilitate a dialogue between residents and QMUL researchers to identify opportunities for interdisciplinary and participatory research.
- Pose the question: "What makes people well?"
Our people
Dr Vanessa Muirhead (Institute of Dentistry)
Prof Arunthathi Mahendran (Institute of Health Sciences Education)
Dr Stephan Taylor (School of Geography)
Ceri Durham (Social Action for Health)
Please click on the recruitment flyer and see the project outline for more information. You can also email bigmouth-thyes@qmul.ac.uk or telephone 0207 882 8637 for more information about our work.