Improving oral health in long‑term care requires more than clinical expertise—it requires redesigning the system in which care occurs. This webinar presents a practical, implementation‑focused introduction to systems thinking and co‑design methods applied to geriatric oral health. Participants will explore findings from a multi-site program of work that demonstrates gaps in preventive care delivery, workflow fragility, and missed opportunities for minimally invasive interventions. Through two interactive components, participants will (1) map the true drivers of poor oral health using the WHO Health Systems Thinking Framework, and (2) engage in a service‑blueprinting exercise using personas and workflow “modifiers” to stress‑test and redesign care processes.  The session equips clinicians to develop actionable strategies for embedding preventive and minimally invasive oral health care into everyday LTC practice.

Dr. Bethy Turton Bethy is a public health dentist and systems thinker whose work focuses on redesigning how oral health is delivered in long‑term care. As PI of this multi‑site program, she brings together epidemiology, qualitative inquiry, and co‑design to build practical, scalable solutions that move oral health beyond the dental operatory and into everyday care routines.

Patricia Porekuu Patricia is a qualitative researcher and co‑design facilitator who specializes in understanding how real people experience complex systems. She led the thematic analysis and systems‑mapping that shaped the Oral Health Toolkit, ensuring that resident, caregiver, and clinician voices directly informed the design.

Krupa Patel Krupa is a mixed‑methods researcher with a focus on health systems performance and implementation. She played a key role in harmonizing clinical datasets, interpreting service patterns, and translating findings into actionable workflows that can be adopted by LTC teams.