School of Dentistry
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.
Research Focus Areas
Faculty Research Interests
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- 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)
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- Malakoplakia Involving the Maxilla: A Case Report and a Review of the Literature (2024)
- Dysgenetic Polycystic Disease of the Salivary Glands: A Case Report of This Rare Entity Occurring for the First Time in the Minor Salivary Glands of the Tongue, and a Review of the Literature (2024)
- CD1a is not effective in distinguishing calcifying epithelial odontogenic tumors from amyloid-rich central odontogenic fibroma (2024)
- Clinical Accuracy of Differential Diagnoses for Submitted Biopsy Cases (2022)
- Orofacial granulomatosis: A case treated with azithromycin pulse therapy, review of the literature and an algorithm for diagnosis (2020)
- Comprehensive oral care improves treatment outcomes in male and female patients with high-severity and chronic substance use disorders (2019)
- Prenatal exposure to environmental toxins and comprehensive dental findings in a population cohort of children (2024)
- 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)
- 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)
- Spontaneous recurrent seizures in an intra-amygdala kainate microinjection model of temporal lobe epilepsy are differentially sensitive to antiseizure drugs (2022)
- Screening of prototype antiseizure and anti-inflammatory compounds in the Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus model of epilepsy (2022)
- Development of an antiseizure drug screening platform for Dravet syndrome at the NINDS contract site for the Epilepsy Therapy Screening Program (2021)
- Cannabidiolic acid exhibits entourage-like improvements of anticonvulsant activity in an acute rat model of seizures (2021)
- A combination treatment of low-dose dexamethasone and aspirin-triggered resolvin D1 reduces Sjögren syndrome-like features in a mouse model (2023)
- Neurologic involvement in seronegative primary Sjögren's syndrome with positive minor salivary gland biopsy: a single-center experience (2023)
- Specialized pro-resolving receptors are expressed in salivary glands with Sjögren's syndrome (2022)
- Laminin-1 Peptides Conjugated to Fibrin Hydrogels Promote Salivary Gland Regeneration in Irradiated Mouse Submandibular Glands (2021)
- The use of BokaFlo™ instrument to measure salivary flow (2021)
- Comprehensive oral care improves treatment outcomes in male and female patients with high-severity and chronic substance use disorders (2019)
- 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)
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- Mineralized nanofiber segments coupled with calcium-binding BMP-2 peptides for alveolar bone regeneration (2018)
- Glucocorticoid-induced delayed fracture healing and impaired bone biomechanical properties in mice (2018)
- Improved performance of Bis-GMA/TEGDMA dental composites by net-like structures formed from SiO2 nanofiber fillers (2015)
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- A ropivacaine-eluting poly(lactide-co-caprolactone) wound dressing provided enhanced analgesia in partial-thickness porcine injuries (2024)
- Sintered fluorapatite scaffolds as an autograft-like engineered bone graft (2024)
- A Novel Vascular Anastomotic Coupling Device for End-to-End Anastomosis of Arteries and Veins (2024)
- A Non-Contrast Multi-Parametric MRI Biomarker for Assessment of MR-Guided Focused Ultrasound Thermal Therapies (2024)
- Local delivery of FK506 to a nerve allograft is comparable to systemic delivery at suppressing allogeneic graft rejection (2023)
- Evaluating the influence of particle morphology and density on the viscosity and injectability of a novel long-acting local anesthetic suspension (2022)
- Fluorapatite and fluorohydroxyapatite apatite surfaces drive adipose-derived stem cells to an osteogenic lineage (2022)
- Thermally tunable hydrogel crosslinking mediated by temperature sensitive liposome (2021)
- Histology to 3D in vivo MR registration for volumetric evaluation of MRgFUS treatment assessment biomarkers (2021)
- Compression of the vascular wall to create a friction fit in a vascular anastomotic coupler (2021)
- Reciprocal regulation of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma growth and molecular subtype by HNF4α and SIX1/4 (2020)
- Modeling diffusion-based drug release inside a nerve conduit in vitro and in vivo validation study (2020)
- A Dentist's Perspective on the Need for Interdisciplinary Collaboration to Reduce Medication-Related Osteonecrosis of the Jaw (2022)
- Hospitalization, mechanical ventilation, and case-fatality outcomes in US veterans with COVID-19 disease between years 2020-2021 (2022)
- A preliminary, observational study using whole-blood RNA sequencing reveals differential expression of inflammatory and bone markers post-implantation of percutaneous osseointegrated prostheses (2022)
- Fluorapatite and fluorohydroxyapatite apatite surfaces drive adipose-derived stem cells to an osteogenic lineage (2021)
- Characterization of porous fluorohydroxyapatite bone-scaffolds fabricated using freeze casting (2021)
- Coronavirus disease 2019 in veterans receiving care at veterans health administration facilities (2020)
Research News & Events
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