The NIHR Global Health Group on Oral Health: The Core Programme (Community Focused Oral Health Research for Equity) is a four-year research programme funded by the UK National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) to address the neglect of oral diseases in four middle-income countries:•Colombia (Professor Carol Guarnizo-Herreño)•Brazil (Professor Paulo Sávio Angeiras de Goes)•Kenya (Professor Regina Mutave)•India (Professor Abhishek Mehta, Professor Manu Mathur, Ms Mirai Chatterjee)The programme is supported by UK and international academic institutions and social organisations.The programme will comprise of three distinct but interconnected work packages (WP) each with a different research aim: • WP1 Oral Health InequalitiesThis work package aims to better understand the patterns and impacts of oral health inequalities in each country to inform the development of public health interventions to promote oral health equity.• WP2 Commercial DeterminantsThis work package aims to uncover the strategies used by transnational food and drink corporations to promote their products and influence oral health policy in each country.• WP3 Oral Health Systems Reform and InnovationThis work package aims to assess the barriers to accessing dental services amongst disadvantaged populations in each country and, to determine the economic burden of oral diseases on marginalised groups. Opportunities for future financing mechanisms for oral health care and the closer integration of oral health in broader health and development programmes will be identified and tested in exploratory field studies.Community Engagement and Involvement (CEI) is a critically important component of this global oral health research programme. One of the key limitations with existing oral health interventions/policies is that they have been developed almost exclusively based on professional views with minimal or no input from a community perspective. As a consequence, they are often poorly aligned with community needs and priorities leading to ineffective and poorly sustained outcomes. In this research programme CEI will provide input to all aspects of the planned research. The process of community engagement, empowerment and co-production with community groups and civil society organisations will be central in the development, implementation, and evaluation of the planned research activities.The programme includes a training and capacity building component to build and develop dental public health research capacity amongst early career oral health researchers in each country. The training activities that will be developed in this programme are: Four MSc scholarships - Two in Dental Public Health at UCL and two in Public Health studentships at the University of Glasgow. Online short courses covering relevant topics Two one-week short courses delivered in each LMIC setting Online mentorship programme to provide guidance and support to early career researchers in each of the LMIC partner countries. One-day training events offered to community members who are interested in becoming more involved in research (linked to the CEI component) A Responsive Research Fund will be established in each country to support local research studies linked to the overall aims and objectives of the research programme. Established and early career oral health researchers will be encouraged to apply for funding.

The overarching research objective is to develop and undertake a programme of research on oral diseases, their causes and prevention to inform the co-production and feasibility testing of public health interventions to reduce oral health inequalities and promote oral health, and to reform oral health systems in each country.The specific objectives are:i)To understand the patterns, mechanisms and impacts of oral health inequalities to inform the development and feasibility testing of public health interventions to promote oral health equity in each country.ii)To uncover the strategies used by transnational food and drink corporations to promote their products and influence oral health policy in each country and to identify policy opportunities to mitigate industry influence on oral health.iii)To assess the barriers to accessing dental services amongst disadvantaged populations in each country and in particular, to determine the economic burden of oral diseases on marginalised groups. Opportunities for future financing mechanisms for oral health care and the closer integration of oral care health in broader health and development programmes will be identified and tested in exploratory field studies.iv)To establish and develop meaningful engagement with local communities and key stakeholders in each country to better understand community experiences of oral diseases and use of dental services, and the best ways ahead of promoting sustainable community engagement and involvement in oral health service delivery, policy and research.v)To build and develop dental public health research capacity amongst early career oral health researchers in each country through postgraduate training, short courses (both in person and online), and mentoring opportunities.