Malin Stensson

Associate Professor Oral Health Science
Department of odontology and oral health , School of Health and Welfare
PhD in Odontology
Dental Hygienist
Programme Manager dental hygienist programme, advance

Malin Stensson´s main area of research is in oral health in children and adolescents. Primarly, she focuses on three questions:

How is the oral health in children and adolescents affected by asthma disease?

Can "good bacteria" (probiotics) affect childrens oral health and prevent dental caries?

How do we identify oral biomarkers for caries risk? 

 Oral health in children and adolescents with asthma

Malin Stenssons studies are based on clinical examinations of children, adolescents and young adults, with and without asthma, in the age groups 3,6,12-16 and 18-24 years. The results show that individuals with asthma have more dental caries and gingival inflammation than individuals without asthma.

The largest difference in oral health was found in the age group 12-16, in which only 1 of 20 adolescents in the asthmagroup was cariesfree, compared to 13 of 20 in the control group. The higher caries prevalence in children and adolescents with asthmatics due to more frequent mouthbreathing and mount dryness, which may contribute that asthmatics consume sugary drinks more frequently than healthy individuals. Another contributing factor that may affect the development of caries in individuals with asthma is impaired salivary secretion. There are also several other factors that could possibly have an effect on asthmatics oral health, which need to be investigated. One such factor is the effect of medication on saliva. Malin Stenssons studies on asthma and oral health emphasise the importance of early detection and cooperation between healthcare and dental care providers.

An important research area is riskassessment as early as possible to prevent oral diseases such as caries. The aim for the project is to identify biomarkers in saliva The research group is international and includes researchers from Valencia, Spain, Malmö University, Linköping University and  Region Jönköping and Skåne.

Another research area Malin Stensson works with is the use of image support to promote communication between healthcare professionals and children in healthcare. The aim of the project is to study the impact of pictorial support on the involvement of children and healthcare professionals, as well as the children's understanding and fear of radrigraphic examination.