Gum disease and general health research award opens

02 May 2024

Sunstar Oral Health, part of Sunstar, has announced the 2025 editions of the World Perio Research Awards and Perio Link Award.

Championing the groundbreaking work of scientific researchers and the link between oral health and systemic health, both awards will be presented at Europerio11 Vienna 2025.

The Sunstar World Perio Research Awards

Sponsored by the Sunstar Foundation since its inception in 2003, the Sunstar World Perio Research Awards are held every three years in collaboration with four leading journals in the field of periodontal research, the Journal of Periodontal Research; the Journal of Periodontologythe Journal of Clinical Periodontology and the Journal of Dental Research.

For the eighth edition in 2025, each of the four editors-in-chief will select five papers, published between January 1, 2021, and December 31, 2023, that provide important new insights into the relationship between periodontal disease and systemic health. The editors emeriti will also each nominate two outstanding papers on the same topic that have been published outside the dental field.

The screening committee will then evaluate all the pre-selected papers to nominate one first-place winner and two runners-up in November 2024. The first-place winner will receive $10,000, while two runners-up will receive $5,000. All winners will also be invited to an all-expenses-paid trip to EuroPerio 11 Vienna 2025 when they will be presented with their awards.

The Perio Link Award for researchers

First launched in 2018, Sunstar’s award aims to champion the link between oral health and general health. It allows researchers to share their latest discoveries and make an impact beyond the scientific community.   

This self-nominated award is open to all researchers and clinicians who published a research paper on the link between oral health and general health between January 1, 2021, and December 31, 2023. To apply for this third edition, entrants need to send a one-minute video in English to explain the findings of their paper in a way that is understandable to the general public.

All videos for the Periolink award must be submitted before September 30, 2024, and all eligible videos will be published on the Sunstar YouTube channel.  Voting will be open to the public from October 1, 2024, to January 15, 2025.

The videos will not be judged by a jury - anyone can vote online for their favourite one on Sunstar’s YouTube channel and the video with the most votes will be the winner.

The first-place recipient of the Sunstar Perio Link Award will also receive an all-expenses trip to EuroPerio11 Vienna 2025 and $1,000.

Mayumi Kaneda, director of the Sunstar Foundation, which oversees both Sunstar awards, said, “We created the World Perio Research Awards to help shape the future of oral-systemic health, push the boundaries of periodontal research and redefine the relationship between periodontal and systemic health.

“The Perio Link Award is dedicated to raising awareness of the connection between oral health and general health, by shining a light on the newest discoveries on this link.

“We’re proud to support both awards to further promote research and develop greater knowledge about this crucial two-way connection, while celebrating the incredible work and achievements being made every day by clinicians worldwide to develop greater knowledge of this connection - as we’ve been doing for over 30 years.”

For more information visit https://www.sunstar-foundation.org/en/awards