A Canadian university and the HCM City-based National Hospital of Odonto-Stomatology will set up an oral-health research centre at the hospital.

Dr Charles Shuler, dean of the University of British Columbia 's dentistry faculty, said the 1,200sq.m centre will focus on research related to oral cancer, dental caries, and cranio-facial birth defects.

It will facilitate transfer of knowledge to local and international researchers to raise the baseline of oral health care in Vietnam and Southeast Asia , he said.

It will also strengthen local capacity to treat the most serious oral-health issues, he added.-VNA