Inclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria narrow down specifically which participants will be targeted. One essential criterion is:

Participant is willing and able to give informed consent for participation in the study

In addition, there may be others, such as:

• ? Either male or female, aged 18 years or above
• ? In the community clinic awaiting a routine dental check-up

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion criteria ensure that people with conflicting health conditions or other issues do not enter the study. This section should start with the following statement:

The participant may not enter the study if ANY of the following apply:

This should then be followed by a list of criteria, such as:

• ? A language barrier or dementia that prevents participants from being able to provide informed consent
• ? Severely impaired sight or hearing (to the level that would affect their ability to participate in the intervention)
• ? Attendance in other activities that might compromise the research (e.g. if the intervention involves participation in a weekly choir, participants who are already members of weekly choirs may be excluded)
• ? Other participant demographics, medications, or activities that may conflict with the research study

It is important when controlling essential variables within the study to strike a balance between being robust and being overly exclusive to the point that not enough participants will be eligible to take part.