In the early years of planning what kind of institution the University of Utah School of Dentistry would be, research was part of the plan. Having spent several years building the nation’s largest dental school clinical network, the School of Dentistry is poised to become a leader in research.

“What is going to set us apart? What are we going to see in 100 years as part of the University of Utah’s history?” said Dr. Glen Hanson, former Vice Dean. Hanson likened the school’s vision to a three-legged stool:

• Educating excellent dentists through robust academics
• Creating a strong clinical network to serve the underserved in Utah’s communities
• Finding innovations in oral care through groundbreaking research

From 2015 to 2019, Hanson demonstrated the power of the school’s research potential when he published the Facilitating a Lifetime of Oral Health Sustainability for Substance Use Disorder Patients and Families (FLOSS) study which looked at how comprehensive dental care changed the lives of patients going through treatment for substance use disorder. What he found through the study was providing oral care for those going through treatment resulted in drastic improvements in employment status, housing status, and abstinence from drug use.

“It was a very, very powerful testimonial as to how incredible that strategy was for dealing with this very difficult population
in terms of their drug abuse; in terms of their mental health,” Dr. Hanson said. “It got a lot of attention both nationally and internationally.”

While other dental schools across the country run community clinics similar to the School of Dentistry, what makes it unique is the school’s association with Medicaid, Hanson said. In partnership with the Utah Legislature, the school became the administrator of dental care for Utah’s Medicaid patients. Over time, school clinics have expanded, and the school has built up a remarkable base of hundreds of private Medicaid Associate Providers across the state. This has increased access to comprehensive dental care for Utah’s Medicaid patients.

In addition, the school has integrated its patients’ electronic records into EPIC, that same system used by the University of Utah health system. This opens a unique opportunity to link a patient’s oral health to their overall health. The data generated from the school’s clinical network will be truly transformative.

“I have never, ever seen an opportunity like this. It’s just so obvious and it’s so needed. And the end results are so powerful,” Hanson said.

Dr. Annette Fleckenstein, a full-tenured research faculty member, is not a dentist but rather her focus is on neuroscience. “I’m interested in the neurochemistry. I’m interested in the circuitry. I’m interested in research that I think has the potential to help a lot of individuals,” she said. Both Fleckenstein and Hanson agree that the growing potential for using patient data at the School of Dentistry can look at how improving oral health could impact, or be impacted by, an incredibly wide variety of conditions, including diabetes, age-associated ailments, and mental health.

Fleckenstein and several dental students have partnered with Huntsman Mental Health in conducting such research.

“The school has the potential to become a real leader in research,” said Dr. Brenda Heaton, Associate Dean of Research. Heaton is an accomplished population oral health researcher who joined the school to lead research efforts. She said she was drawn to the School of Dentistry because of its great potential. “When we think of serving the underserved, the University of Utah has figured out how to effectively implement approaches that to date have only been talked about. One of those innovations is integrated care delivery models.”

The school now has several clinics in which dental, medical, and even behavioral health providers are working side by side to improve overall health of patients. Heaton says these clinical successes provide an unparalleled opportunity to show through research the importance of bringing dentistry and medicine together to improve a patient’s overall health. The School of Dentistry’s unique model of providing holistic care to underserved communities also exposes dental students to new ways of approaching care while giving them an opportunity to work on research. “We’re training future dentists who are familiar and comfortable with integrated models of care. This is absolutely critical to achieving a paradigm shift in how we think about care, particularly for addressing the healthcare needs of underserved populations,” Heaton said.

For the future of research at the School of Dentistry, “the sky’s the limit,” Hanson said.