Health brings dental health and gut bacteria to Denmark's Political Festival 2024
Health will participate again this year at Folkemødet – Denmark's Political Festival on Bornholm, and this time we will discuss inequality in dental health and communicate knowledge about an organ that plays a major role in our well-being but prefers to live in hiding: the gut.
As always, the research vessel Aurora will be Aarhus University's base during Denmark's Political Festival, which will take place on Bornholm from 13 to 15 June 2024. On Aurora, the university will host a wide range of events for politicians, opinion-makers and curious members of the public.
Health is organising two of Aarhus University's events: Head of Department Siri Beier Jensen from the Department of Dentistry and Oral Health will participate in a panel debate on inequality in dental health with politicians and special interest organisations, while Professor Christian Lodberg Hvas from the Department of Clinical Medicine will give a talk on the gut together with Line Friis Frederiksen, who is a science journalist.
Friday 14 June at 15:35-16:35: The Gut – new insights into an organ in motion
The gut is our main point of contact with the outside world, but it prefers to live in hiding. We are happy when it stays calm and does not make a fuss. But we can benefit from taking a greater interest in our gut and its life. The gut produces hormones and affects our immune system, our mental well-being and our risk of developing diseases.
At Health's gut event, participants can learn more about what they can do themselves to make their gut happy - and thereby boost their health. What is good to eat and what should we stay away from (even though it may be difficult)? And what does the latest research tell us about stool transplants and other treatments?
Saturday 15 June at 10:30-11:30: Healthy mouth – a debate with bite
In Denmark, we do not leave the hospital with a bill in our hand. But we have to pay about 85 per cent of the bill ourselves when we go to the dentist. Research shows that oral and dental disease can be associated with serious diseases and vice versa. And even though our teeth, jaws and mouth are just as integral a part of the body as our arms, gut and heart, there is still a clear political consensus that dental and oral disease is a personal matter.
This discourages many people from going to the dentist. Lack of treatment can become both more expensive and lead to more serious conditions, and poor dental health stigmatises and keeps people on the fringes of society.
At Denmark's Political Festival, we will discuss with politicians and the Danish Dental Association whether dentists of the future are equipped to solve the increasingly complex disease courses and treatments in a population that lives longer – and with their own teeth.
Aarhus University will host many events with researchers within and across all of the university's fields, and many Health researchers will participate in other debates and talks run by various organisations, associations and companies.
See the full programme for Denmark's Political Festival 2024 on the festival website.
Keep an eye on the LinkedIn pages of Health and Aarhus University, which will post regularly from Denmark's Political Festival 2024.
Contact
Adviser Caroline Søndergaard Bendixen
Aarhus University, Health Administrative Centre - Dean’s Office
Mobile: (+45) 93 50 80 78
Email: carben@au.dk