Oral Health Research at the University of Utah
Our Mission
Our mission is to advance oral health access and care through research, innovation, and evidence-based oral health practices and policy.
The Research Environment
The University of Utah School of Dentistry provides a unique environment for oral health research and workforce development. Our school’s large clinical enterprise is embedded in a major healthcare system. We are leaders in medical-dental integration, with four of our eight clinics offering dental care alongside medical and behavioral health care and using the same electronic health record. A founding pillar of our school is to advance oral health at the population scale, especially for underserved people and our local communities. Because we are embedded in a top-tier research university, we also have exceptional opportunities to improve oral health by collaborating across disciplines as diverse as materials science, biomedical engineering, data science, imaging, and the life sciences.
Our Focus Areas
Join us!
We need the best faculty, trainees, collaborators, community partners, and donors. Inquire at SODResearch@hsc.utah.edu or apply for open positions at the University of Utah job board.
Open Research Positions
- Tenure or Career-Line Faculty - Epidemiologist/Population Health
- Scientists/Health Services Research Scholar/Dental Public Health
- Researcher or Clinician Scientist
- Research Associate
Faculty Research Interests
Population Oral Health
- Gastrointestinal distress as a potential mediator between stress and periodontal inflammation (2023)
- Preconception Periodontitis and Risk of Spontaneous Abortion in a Prospective Cohort Study (2023)
- Photo-Enhanced Health Promotion Messages to Target Reduction in Dietary Sugar among Residents of Public Housing (2023)
- Perceived racism associated with declines in self-rated oral health among U.S. Black women (2023)
- Recruitment and Enrollment of Low-income, Minority Residents of Urban Public Housing into Research (2023)
- Health-based homophily in public housing developments (2023)
- Methods to madness: The utility of complex systems science in a mad, mad world (2023)
- Periodontitis is associated with an increased hazard of mortality in a longitudinal cohort study over 50 years (2023)
- Perceived experiences of racism linked to dental fear and anxiety among Black women (2023)
- Exploring periodontitis misclassification mechanisms under partial-mouth protocols (2022)
- Simulation of Random Differential Periodontitis Outcome Misclassification with Perfect Specificity (2022)
- Development and validation of a latent, multidimensional, self-report periodontal disease measure (2021)
- Community-based sugar-sweetened beverage intervention associated with short-term improvements in self-rated oral health (2021)
- Self-reported periodontitis and fecundability in a population of pregnancy planners (2021)
- Third-Molar Status and Risk of Loss of Adjacent Second Molars (2021)
- Oxidative stress links periodontal inflammation and renal function (2021)
- A measure development study of sugar-sweetened beverage-related knowledge, self-efficacy, and intention among urban, low-income adults (2021)
- A quantitative bias analysis to assess the impact of unmeasured confounding on associations between diabetes and periodontitis (2021)
- The impact of periodontitis exposure misclassification bias from partial-mouth measurements on association with diabetes and cardiovascular disease (2020)
- Complex Systems Model of Dynamic Mechanisms of Early Childhood Caries Development (2020)
- Survey of Dental Researchers' Perceptions of Sexual Harassment at AADR Conferences: 2015 to 2018 (2020)
- Predictors of self-reported oral health in the Black Women's Health Study (2020)
- A storytelling intervention reduces childhood caries risk behaviors among American Indian and Alaska Native mothers in Northern California (2019)
- Cross-cultural adaptation of a Spanish version of a previously validated HPV survey that evaluates dental students' knowledge, perception and clinical practices in Latin America (2022)
- Minimally Invasive Techniques Used for Caries Management in Dentistry. A Review (2021)
- The perspectives, barriers, and willingness of Utah dentists to engage in human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine practices (2020)
- A Multi-state Evaluation of Oral Health Students' Knowledge of Human Papillomavirus-Related Oropharyngeal Cancer and HPV Vaccination (2020)
- US oral health students' willingness to train and administer the HPV vaccine in dental practices (2019)
- Comprehensive oral care improves treatment outcomes in male and female patients with high-severity and chronic substance use disorders (2019)
Oral Health & Disease
- Hepatitis Delta Virus Reporting Requirements in the United States and Territories: A Systematic Review (2024)
- Growing Awareness: Limited Testing and Screening Bias for Hepatitis Delta Virus in Utah 2000-2021 (2024)
- Analysis of Hepatitis D Virus in Minor Salivary Gland of Sjögren's Disease (2023)
- Pathogenesis and outcome of VA1 astrovirus infection in the human brain are defined by disruption of neural functions and imbalanced host immune responses (2023)
- A changing landscape: Tracking and analysis of the international HDV epidemiology 1999-2020 (2023)
- The use of BokaFlo™ instrument to measure salivary flow (2021)
