The College of Dentistry is delighted to welcome our newest students! Associate Dean of Students Dr. Sherry Timmons, Marue White, and Rachael Kowbel hosted D1 Orientation for the Class of 2025. The orientation was held in person Monday through Thursday, August 16 through August 19, 2021.  

The incoming D1 students enjoyed a variety of internal and external campus presentations, including a welcome from interim Dean Schneider, an associate deans panel, student testimonials, the Office of Strategic Communications on branding and social media, a Student Organization Fair, photo scavenger hunt, Counseling Services, and Gallup Strengths Finders, among many others. OKU generously funded a lunch and team building exercise on Tuesday while Tuesday evening included small group dinners with Deans and D1 faculty at local Iowa City establishments for small group discourse and delicacies. 

Student evaluations stated their highlights included jogging tours of campus, small group lunches/dinners, the university Challenge Course, speed networking, and lunch with D2 Big Brother/Sisters.  Please extend a warm welcome to the newest members of our college family!

Here’s the Class of 2025!

On Wednesday evening, August 11, the five first-year pediatric dentistry residents, along with pediatric dentistry faculty Dr. Amy Lesch and Cathy Skotowski, volunteered at a back-to-school event called SERVOLUTION sponsored by LIFEchurch in Coralville. The community event served over 1,000 children providing free backpacks, school supplies, gift cards to purchase shoes, and offered free haircuts, vision screenings, dental screenings and fluoride treatments. The College of Dentistry Department of Pediatric Dentistry partnered with Johnson County Public Health to coordinate and implement the dental portion of the outreach event. Over 120 children received dental screenings, fluoride treatments and oral hygiene supplies. School dental screening forms were also completed for children entering kindergarten, 9th grade or for children enrolled at a new school. The event was an excellent way to assist families with back-to-school supplies and services.

The Annual Meeting for the International Association for Dental Research (IADR) and the American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research (AADOCR) was held virtually this past week, July 21-24. Iowa had 42 presentations from faculty and students, and since each presentation was conducted virtually, the presentations can be still viewed if you registered for the conference.

• The opening ceremony for the meeting was kicked off by IADR president, Pamela Den Besten ('80 DDS).
• David Drake, professor in the Iowa Institute for Oral Health Research, became the treasurer for the IADR.
• Two Iowa researchers, Susana Calderon and Cristina Vidal, participated in the inaugural class (2020-2021) of the AADOCR MIND the Future program. An overview of the program with special attention to David Drake's role in the program is highlighted on the College of Dentistry website.
• Aline Petrin, assistant professor in the Iowa Institute for Oral Health Research, was announced a member of the 2021-2022 class of the AADOCR MIND the Future program.
• 15 dental students earned AADR Bloc Travel grants. The recipients were Chinyere Adeleka, Jonathan Brennan, Teagan Byrnes, Bethany Doolittle, Jennifer Greif, Sang Han, Madison Kasparek, Mary Li, Jamie Liu, Sheng Hao Lu, Cyrus Mansouri, Katherine Moore, Shannon Osland, Benjamin Phan, and Sydney Woods.
• Dental Student Megha Puranam received a Student Research Day Award based on her work at the Iowa Section of the AADR Annual Meeting.
• Waheed Awotoye, a postdoctoral research fellow in the Iowa Institute for Oral Health Research, won second prize in the 2021 IADR Hatton Award in the senior category for his research presentation. 
• Dental student Mary Li won a Student Research Fellowship in support of her project. Azeez Butali, associate professor in the Iowa Institute for Oral Health Research is Li's mentor.

 Associate Dean for Research Jin Xian said that it was a "very impressive Iowa IADR representation" as he expressed congratulations to the students and mentors for the award winners.

The medical equipment manufacturer SONENDO of California awarded Dr. Fabricio Teixeira, professor and head of the Department of Endodontics, and his team a $189K grant and specialized equipment and training worth almost $350K, bringing the total value of the award to $539K for their 1-year clinical project, “Effectiveness of GentleWave on the Healing of Apical Periodontitis: a prospective cohort study.”

Apical periodontitis is caused by a polymicrobial infection of the root canal system. Microorganisms present in the necrotic pulp can lead to periradicular diseases (periapical lesion). In endodontic treatment of these circumstances, the primary purpose is to reduce the number of microbial cells, tissue, biofilms, and infected dentine. In the majority of cases, apical periodontitis will heal if the root canal system is adequately disinfected.

Currently, various irrigation and mechanical instrumentation techniques have been used. A combination of several procedures can predictably eliminate these microorganisms. Sonendo has developed an alternative treatment using sound waves and advanced fluid dynamics, called the Gentlewave System. The concept is based on minimally invasive endodontics; it was designed to reduce patient inconvenience, operatory turnover, and risk of viral exposure. It has the potential to eliminate these microorganisms and etiological factors, preserving the tooth structure. Dr. Teixeira and his team will evaluate whether this new invention can clinically reduce operating time, document the incidence of post-operatory pain, and, more importantly, confirm if it enhances root canal disinfection, thereby increasing the healing rate for apical periodontitis. 

Dr. Teixeira’s team includes statisticians Dr. Xian Jin Xie and Carissa Comnick, Sara Miller as clinic coordinator, and endodontics residents and faculty who will use the new technology.

Dr. Teixeira said, “I am fortunate to have worked with such wonderful people on this project, notably Sara Miller, Ann Lawler, Sharon Seydel and Carissa Comnick. We are very enthusiastic about this translational research opportunity.”

The results will be evaluated by board-certified endodontic faculty using limited Cone Beam Computed Tomography examinations (CBCT). 

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) awarded Dr. Cristina Vidal, assistant professor in the Department of Operative Dentistry, a 5-year grant totaling over $700K for her research project studying the relationship between caries and the oral microbiome.

Caries is the most common chronic disease for children and adolescents and is also common among adults. This disease is caused by numerous factors, commonly attributed to diet and acid content in the mouth and their effects on the oral microbiome. These imbalances demineralize dental hard tissues, which allows for a carious lesion in the enamel of a tooth. With further demineralization, a cavity will develop.

Dr. Vidal’s research group has shown that the common narrative about how diet and acid content cause caries is more complex than originally thought. In particular, the team has highlighted how certain enzymes, namely matrix metalloproteases (MMPs), can cause greater dental decay, while other MMPs can help repair dentin tissues.

Dr. Vidal and her research group are exploring effective ways to stimulate and regenerate dental tissues using insights regarding how to activate and promote helpful MMPs and reduce the presence and activity of harmful MMPs.

Dr. Vidal’s hypothesis is that the changes in the oral microbiome that accompany caries progression affect gene- and protein-expression of specific MMPs, which may be related to changes in odontoblasts. To test this hypothesis, Dr. Vidal will study changes in odontoblasts and dentin organic matrix as caries progresses.

Dr. Jeff Banas, Dr. Vidal’s mentor for the project, said, “Dr. Vidal’s research may reveal novel mechanisms involved in caries progression to an advanced state, as well as offer insight into means for using the forthcoming mechanistic understanding to consider regeneration potential and new ideas for treatment approaches.”

This research could ultimately result in inventions that prevent caries progression and repair tissues damaged by caries, thus, reducing the need for extractions, tissue removal, and restorations.

The research project is supported by a K08 award from the NIH and the NIDCR. The K08 award is a career-development award for clinical investigators that allows them to conduct focused research with a designated mentor. Dr. Jeff Banas, Dr. David Drake, and Dr. Xian Jin Xie.

In 2018, the University of Iowa was ranked 30th in the country for the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) funding with just under $3.2M in funds granted. In 2020, this ranking increased to 10th in the country, and 2nd in the Big 10, and to over $6.4M, an increase of over 100% in two years.

“This remarkable achievement is a testament to the excellent faculty and staff at the college, and to Dean Xie’s leadership, and highlights our role as a global leader in oral and craniofacial research” Dean David Johnsen said.

These successes were made possible by recruiting and retaining excellent research faculty; developing support infrastructure for basic science, translational, and clinical research—including the Division of Biostatistics and Computational Biology, staff support, and establishing excellent facilities, labs, and technology; and making space for innovative clinical research. These developments have resulted in a record amount of external grants funds, and a record number of grant applications from the college.

“I want to thank our excellent team that made this success possible. We could not have done it without the great work that our faculty and research support staff have been doing, the support from Dean Johnsen and Dean Schneider, and the university administrative support. This is your success!” Associate Dean for Research Dean Xian Jin Xie said

Although these initiatives are beginning to bear fruit, the future is even brighter.

“As a college, we look forward to seeing these successes amplified with the P3-to-P50 grant and the college’s seed grant program,” Interim Dean Galen Schneider said.

The P3-to-P50 grant is a Public-Private Partnership (P3) grant to develop the infrastructure needed for a P50 oral cancer research-center grant application with National Cancer Institute and the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. The collegiate Seed Grant program , which began in 2020, is designed to support innovative projects from early career investigators so that they can be competitive for peer-reviewed grants from national funding agencies. Both of these initiatives point to greater research success on the horizon.

The American Association of Orthodontists Foundation awarded Dr. Kyungsup Shin, assistant professor in Orthodontics, and Dr. Aaron Figueroa, assistant professor in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, a $30K grant for their project, "Anti-fibrotic Effect of Exosomes on Human Temporomandibular Joint Tissues: A Pilot Study." The project is aimed at understanding the anti-fibrosis therapeutic effect of exosomes on fibrous tissues retrieved from human patients' temporomandibular joint (TMJ).

TMJ's pathological fibrous tissue can lead to seriously disabling diseases such as fibrous TMJ ankylosis. TMJ fibrous ankylosis can progress into bony ankylosis requiring surgical intervention if not appropriately treated. Despite the clear and immediate need for treatment, there are no existing non-surgical therapies to prevent or treat fibrous ankylosis in TMJ.

Recently, exosomes have attracted attention due to their great potential to promote intercellular communication leading to enhanced cell recruitment, differentiation to specific cell lineage, and tissue repair. Mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (MSCs) are promising sources of exosomes, and exosomes derived from bone marrow stromal cells (BMSC-Exos) showed an evident reduction of fibrosis in the liver and lung.

Dr. Shin, Dr. Figueroa, and their team hypothesize that myofibroblasts activate human fibrous ankylosis, and MSC-derived exosomes have the potential to alleviate myofibroblast activities. Dr. Shin will isolate and characterize BMSC-Exos from human BMSCs. Dr. Figueroa will screen the patients, conduct TMJ surgery such as total joint replacement, and retrieve pathologic TMJ tissue samples. Anti-fibrotic effects of human BMSC-Exos on human fibrotic TMJ tissues will be evaluated using myofibroblast expression (alpha-SMA, type I collagen) and activity (collagen gel compaction). 

Dr. Shin’s team includes co-investigators Dr. Aaron Figueroa, Dr. Dong Rim Seol (Carver College of Medicine), Dr. Xian Jin Xie, and Dr. James A Martin (Carver College of Medicine) is a consultant.

Dr. Gretchen Gibson, an expert in oral health care for older adults who have special needs, conducted a site visit and review of the College of Dentistry’s Advanced Education Program in Geriatrics and Special Needs. The review was overwhelming positive and highlighted the great need for advanced training in the area and Iowa’s role as a leader in the field.

Dr. Howard Cowen, the Delta Dental of Iowa Foundation Professor in Geriatrics and Special Needs, is the director of the program, and he and Dr. Jennifer Hartshorne, clinical associate professor in preventive and community dentistry, facilitated and helped make Dr. Gibson’s visit a success.

Older and special needs adults are a critical underserved population in dentistry, and dental care for this population is closely linked to their overall health outcomes. Iowa’s program is designed to address the needs of this group, and Iowa has become a leader in the field.

Dr. Gibson spoke to this underlying need, both for patients and in dental education.

Dental treatment planning for geriatric and special needs patients “often appear straight forward, they can quickly become complex due to the systemic and psychological issues that are involved,” Gibson explained.

She explained that the level of skill required is beyond the scope of what can be addressed in a DDS program, and Iowa’s “unique program” fills “a critically important post-graduate education opportunity that is almost absent in dental education.”

Given the strengths of the faculty and this program, Iowa is well suited to spearhead efforts to bring this specialty into the mainstream as a distinct specialization within dentistry more broadly.

Gibson’s suggestions for improvement based on the visit were intended to aid the program in its efforts to establish itself as a leader in special care dentistry, and her suggestions focused on applying and modifying some assessment tools to support these efforts.

The American Association of Orthodontists Foundation awarded Dr. Shankar Rengasamy Venugopalan, associate professor in orthodontics, and Dr. Huojun Cao, assistant professor in Iowa Institute for Oral Health Research, a $30K grant for their project, “The Analyses and Validation of Super-enhancers in Craniofacial Microsomia Associated Genomic Region.” The project is aimed at understanding the genetic causes of craniofacial microsomia.

Craniofacial microsomia is a structural birth defect were parts of the face, including ears, jaws, muscles, etc., are smaller than they would ordinarily be. These defects result in an asymmetrical face, and they affect how a person hears, eats, breathes, and speaks. To correct for these defects, multiple surgeries from birth until adolescence are needed. These surgeries are a significant burden on the patient, family, and medical system. Identifying the genetic cause of these defects could allow researchers to develop interventions to prevent these structural birth defects.

To date, the only large-scale genome-wide-association study for these defects identified several statistically significant genes, but these genes explained only about 9% of the genetic variance in the study population. This observation suggests that many genomic regions associated with craniofacial microsomia are yet to be discovered.This project aims to identify other important genetic factors that will further explain this variance.

Most of this research, thus far, has focused on the coding regions of the genome, with little attention on non-coding regions. But non-coding parts of the genome, particularly super enhancers—a cluster of enhancers that play a critical role in determining how a cell develops and grows—can control and affect gene regulatory networks. Dr. Rengasamy Venugopalan and Dr. Cao will use sophisticated computational tools to determine which genes are regulated by the super enhancers and will test them in an in vitro model system to validate their findings.

For the past six years, the Department of Prosthodontics has celebrated National Prosthodontics Awareness week by recruiting six low-income veterans to receive a free, complete set of dentures.

Based on Dr. Tarek El Kerdani’s communication with the governor’s office, and to commemorate this annual event in recognition of National Prosthodontics Awareness Week, Governor Kim Reynolds declared April 5-9 Iowa Prosthodontics Awareness Week.

“The graduate prosthodontics program celebrates National Prosthodontics Awareness Week every year, by providing exceptional prosthodontic service to our community at large, enhancing visibility of the specialty of prosthodontics, and positioning prosthodontists as leaders in the dental industry,” said Dr. Kerdani.

He added, “During this week, the residents of the Graduate Prosthodontics program at the University of Iowa College of Dentistry volunteer their time and resources into constructing complete dentures, completely free of charge, for a select group of veterans with limited income.” Dr. Kerdani said.

This service for the veterans is now built into the curriculum and training for prosthodontics residents, and the project serves as a capstone for the residents who are finishing their specialty training at Iowa.

Kristen Flick, the college’s embedded social worker, finds veterans who need the services, and she talked about that process in a 2019 Daily Iowan article during this annual event, and about what this event means for the college.

“It has been especially great for our faculty and staff to get involved to see that there is this population that has needs that are not being met, dental needs specifically,” Flick said in the 2019 article. She added, “To be able to give them a resource because they have sacrificed so much is something we are happy to do to such a deserving population.”

We had a chat with three of the veterans selected this year: Roland, Kit, and Allen.

Roland

Dr. Tarin Piangsuk, a third-year prosthodontics resident, provided care and the new set of dentures for Roland. Roland served in the first Iraqi Gulf War, and while wearing his United States Army t-shirt, he said that he was so excited to eat salads with his new dentures.

“I had some dentures before, but nothing like these! They’re so beautiful and so nice,” Roland exclaimed with a big grin.

Kit

Dr. Michelle Burson, also a third-year prosthodontics resident, provided care and a new set of dentures for Kit. Kit served in the Vietnam war, and although he had previously had a set of dentures made 10 years ago, he said that they were falling apart.

“These new dentures look and feel great,” Kit said.

After wondering whether his previous dentures could have been maintained with regular prosthodontic care which Kit had not received, Kit explained, “I’m so glad that will examine the dentures at least once a year to make sure that they are in good working order.”

Allen

Dr. Maria Teresa, a first-year prosthodontics resident, provided care and a new set of dentures for Allen. Allen also served during the Vietnam war, although he was stationed in Thailand during that time. In 2012, Allen had his teeth pulled, and he had not been able to eat anything except soft foods since then. The dentures were the first ones Allen has ever had, and he knows they will make a big difference in the quality of his life.  

“I am so happy about the dentures,” Allen exclaimed with a boom in his voice.

“Although I’ve obviously not had any problems eating,” he said with a big laugh while patting his stomach, “I am really looking forward to eating apples and a steak!”

Each year, the Department of Prosthodontics makes the world a little bit easier for six low-income veterans. Roland, Kit, and Allen, among others were all grateful for the care they received, but for the college and the Department of Prosthodontics, it is a great privilege and honor to give back a little to those who have given so much for the United States.

On March 1, Dr. Lina Moreno, associate professor in the Department of Orthodontics, was named the interim Department Executive Officer of her department until a permanent chair is named for the department. Dr. Moreno began her dental and orthodontic education in Colombia, South America. After receiving her dental education, she was accepted into a graduate program in genetics at The Ohio State University. She came to the University of Iowa with her mentor, Dr. Andrew Lidral, where she received her PhD. She then entered and completed a residency in the Department of Orthodontics at the University of Iowa. In 2008, she was appointed as assistant professor in orthodontics, and in 2016, she was appointed to her present position as associate professor in orthodontics.

Dr. Moreno is an established expert in dentistry, orthodontics, and craniofacial genetics. Given her background and experiences in various interrelated disciplines, she has become a dedicated and effective clinician-scientist. At the suggestion of Dean David Johnsen, she spearheaded the transition of orthodontic care for craniofacial anomaly patients from University of Iowa Health Care to the College of Dentistry. As director of Cleft and Craniofacial Anomalies Clinic in the Department of Orthodontics, she oversees orthodontic care for most of Iowa’s patients with craniofacial deformities, including supervising attending faculty and orthodontic residents who provide this care.

Dr. Moreno is a renowned expert in craniofacial genetics and has had numerous NIH/NIDCR and American Association of Orthodontists Foundation grants supporting her research in the fields of genetics of cleft lip and palate, malocclusion, and facial variation. She has published 59 peer-reviewed articles and 2 book chapters in her fields of expertise, and one of her publications, “Major Locus for Cleft Lip and Palate Mapped to Chromosome 9Q22-Q33,” received the Milo Hellman Research Award in 2007, the most prestigious research award in the field of orthodontics.

Dr. Moreno is also a dedicated teacher and mentor. She has served as a mentor for two K awards from the NIH for trainees Drs. Brain Howe (K08) and Aline Petrin (K01). Both K awards were funded in 2018 and 2019. Under Dr. Moreno’s mentorship, Aline has secured an additional K boost grant, and she also won the Milo Hellman Research Award 2021, exactly 14 years after her mentor.

In 2017, Dr. Moreno was named to the Ross D. Christensen Family Professorship in Orthodontics. Dr. Kyungsup Shin said of Dr. Moreno, “She encapsulates all the qualities of a top-tier leader, and we look forward to her serving as interim DEO.”

On April 26, the College of Dentistry conducted an investiture ceremony for Dr. Gustavo Avila Ortiz, the chair of the Department of Periodontics, as the inaugural Philip Lainson Professor of Periodontics. An endowed faculty position is the highest honor the university can confer on a faculty member, and this particular endowed position is due to the extensive efforts of alumni and friends who wanted both to honor Professor Phil Lainson, the longtime chair of the Department of Periodontics, and to support advances in the field of periodontics. The image to the right shows 7 of the College of Dentistry's 13 endowed professors.

After an extensive and rigorous nomination and review process Professor Avila Ortiz was named to this endowed professorship. Dr. Avila Ortiz has excelled as a leader, clinical scholar, teacher, mentor at predoctoral and advanced levels, international collaborator, and trend setter in the national councils where policy and standards for patient care are set.  As DEO has shown stellar talents as a team builder.   

In addition to a generous commitment to clinical and didactic teaching at predoctoral and advanced levels, Professor Avila Ortiz has successfully mentored more than 30 individual predoctoral and postdoctoral students over the past decade.

As a clinical scholar and trend setter, he has participated in all aspects of scholarly development, manuscript preparation and submission, which has resulted in more than 100 peer reviewed publications, more than 100 presentations in scientific events and CE programs, and several national and international awards and recognitions. He also has an active and sought-after private practice. 

He received his DDS Degree in 2003 from the University of Granada (UGR), School of Dentistry (Spain) and a PhD Degree, Department of Stomatology from UGR in 2006.  In 2009, he received his MS Degree in Periodontics from the University of Michigan, School of Dentistry.  From 2009 to 2011 he served as Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Periodontics and Oral Medicine, University of Michigan, School of Dentistry.  In 2011 he joined the University of Iowa, College of Dentistry as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Periodontics, becoming Professor in 2018.  In 2017 he became Department Executive Officer in the Department of Periodontics, University of Iowa College of Dentistry.  He has been an energetic team builder, recruiting an impressive group of teachers and scholars, including several who have already secured external funding.  His international network in Periodontology circles has brought many benefits to the team.   

Professor Avila Ortiz has an impressive list of national and international awards and invited presentations including the AAP (American Academy of Periodontology) Outstanding Periodontal Educator Award in 2013, 1st Prize in the category of Clinical Research at the Academy of Osseointegration Meeting, in San Diego in 2016, 1st Prize, Clinical Research category at the Dentsply Implants World Summit in San Diego in 2017, Honorary Alumnus – University of Granada School of Dentistry (Spain) in 2018, 1st Prize at the International Osteology Symposium – Basic Science Category in 2019 (presented by Dr. Miguel Romero- Bustillos).  He was a Member of the Editorial Board of Journal of Dental Research from 2014 to 2021.  Currently, he is an Associate Editor, Journal of Periodontology starting in 2020, and Co-Editor, Clinical Advances in Periodontics starting in 2020.  He has over a dozen privately supported clinical trials with support of over $800K.  Professor Avila Ortiz has over 90 peer reviewed papers mostly on clinical research, clinical topics, and patient policy, and 10 book chapters.  Professor Avila Ortiz has given over 100 lectures nationally or internationally.  Topics have included alveolar ridge preservation and extraction site management for implant placement.

Upon receiving this honor, Dr. Avila Ortiz said:

“Not even in my most adventurous dreams, first as a dental student and later when I started a career in academics, could I have imagined that I would be honored with such a recognition. I would like to thank the University of Iowa and the College of Dentistry for granting me this honor. I am truly humbled. My thoughts go to all the people that have supported (and put up with) me over the years: my family, friends, colleagues and mentors. Thanks also to all the members of the Department of Periodontics for being such a great and cohesive team, especially in the hardest of circumstances. I would also like to acknowledge all the donors that have made this Professorship possible—for their tremendous generosity and commitment to the advancement of the department. And finally, I would like to express a special appreciation for Dr. Phillip A. Lainson, after whom this Professorship is named. I did not have the privilege of working with Phil, but I have had the tremendous pleasure of meeting him several times since I joined the University of Iowa, and I have heard from other people what an extraordinary leader he was during his tenure in our College. Dr. Lainson continues to be a source of inspiration for new generations of periodontists and I cannot be prouder to have my name connected to his and his legacy.”

Dr. Avila Ortiz's investiture as the Philip Lainson Professor of Periodontics was held on April 26 with people attending virtually via Zoom and in person. This investiture brings the total number of endowed faculty members at the College of Dentistry to 13.

Story updated with investitutre ceremony images and information.

Although dentists often prioritize technical skill, patients generally aren’t able to evaluate differences in skill and they tend to care much more about how a dentist makes them feel. This central insight was one of fourth-year dental student Hannah Klaassen’s findings from her student research project, which she began four years ago and published in 2020 in the Journal of Dental Education.

Klaassen began the project during her first year of dental school as a part of the Dental Student Research Program, which provides opportunities for students to learn about and conduct cutting-edge research in the oral sciences.  

The College of Dentistry had been consistently collecting open-ended patient feedback after visits, and Klaassen used these responses as the basis for her study.  

“Taking patient feedback in their own words is helpful for identifying what patients notice and what aspects of patient care are positive and what isn’t,” Klaassen said.

After reading through the comments, Klaassen developed a coding system that allowed her to group and classify similar kinds of responses.

In particular, Klaassen noted that patients are particularly interested in (1) the emotional care they felt at an appointment, (2) the personal connections they made with staff, (3) the clear communication of expectations, and (4) clarity of communication between provider and patient and across the various departments and front desk teams at the College of Dentistry.

“Communication is what makes or breaks the patient experience, and all other central areas of concern were intertwined and related to that. Patients care less about technical skills and more about how we make them feel,” Klaassen explained.

In October 2019, Hannah Klaassen, who was a third-year dental student then, presented this research project at a Noon Presentation offered to the entire college.

Dr. Mike Kanellis, associate dean of clinics at the College of Dentistry, said of the presentation, “It is very interesting and timely.”

The study was published in the Journal of Dental Education in September 2020.

Klaassen’s experience as a student researcher has been formative for her. She initially started conducting research because she was interested in specializing after dental school, and she didn’t realize how much of an impact it would have on her.

“This research has given me an outsider and patient perspective on dentistry that I wouldn’t have known, and that’s invaluable,” Klaassen said. She added, “I hope to continue incorporating that into my own practice going forward and analyzing patient feedback in private practices. I think there is a lot we can learn from our patients.”

More broadly, the focus on research at Iowa has made a big difference for Klaassen too. Klaassen “100%” recommends that students get involved in the Student Research Program.

Speaking of her experience as an author going through an extensive review process for publication, Klaassen said, “I’m much more critical now, and I don’t just accept things at face value. The curriculum at Iowa on critical thinking and research is good, but my research experience in the Student Research Program complements it very well.”

 “You don’t understand how much it will impact you,” she added.

And one of the biggest impacts for Klaassen has been having Dr. Marchini as a mentor.

Speaking of Dr. Marchini, Klaassen said, “There are a hundred different ways that he helped me. He gave me the skills for conducting research and publishing it, but he also gives me great advice about patients and applying research to particular cases, especially during third-year rotations and treatment planning.”

Not content to rest on her laurels, Klaassen is working on another research project examining how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected dental student stress levels.

Millions of people receive palliative care each year in the United States. Many of these individuals can live several years while receiving palliative care.  Although oral health conditions, including dry mouth, infections, and oral pain among others, are extremely prevalent and can significantly affect their quality of life, the great majority of these individuals receive no oral health care prior to death.

Addressing these oral diseases can help maintain dignity and improve quality of life for older adults receiving palliative care. It can also reduce aspiration pneumonia, life-threatening septicemia and other systemic complications. Additionally, preventive care and early treatment are much more cost-effective than reacting to complications resulting from these oral health conditions.

Thus, Dr. Xi Chen and his team of researchers are working to change the paradigm of oral health care for these older adults. Oral health care has not, thus far, been integrated into daily palliative care practices, and physicians often treat oral health as a less important issue for this population, which in turn results in patients and their caregivers not appropriately valuing oral health care.

To begin changing the way that dentists and physicians think about oral health care for this population, the National Institutes of Health awarded Dr. Xi Chen and his research team a $425,000 R21 award.

As a part of the ongoing effort to advance palliative dental education and patient care at University of Iowa, this research builds on Dr. Chen’s early study with palliative care patients and their caregivers to identify barriers and solutions to both personal and professional high-quality oral-health care.

This particular research project will identify patients at the University of Iowa Palliative Care clinic, and conduct oral examinations and perform qualitative interviews with the patients and their caregivers to determine the patient’s oral health care needs, treatment goals, and care preferences. This information will be helpful for developing an intervention designed to increase oral health awareness among palliative care team and increase dental referrals for their patients. The research team will also evaluate the feasibility of integrating a proposed intervention into daily personal palliative care practices over a six-month period.

In addition to this intervention, a palliative dental practice building in the University of Iowa Palliative Care clinic will also be developed to provide on-site assessment and consults for palliative care patients requiring dental referrals.

Dr. Chen’s team including co-investigators Dr. Steven Levy, Department of Preventive and Community Dentistry, Dr. Timothy Thomsen, Department of Internal, Stephanie Gilbertson-White, PhD, APRN-BC and associate professor in the Department of Nursing, and Mary Ellen Macdonald, PhD, at the McGill University Faculty of Dentistry. 

Dr. Liu Hong, associate professor in the Iowa Institute for Oral Health Research and the Department of Prosthodontics, was awarded a supplemental $125K subcontract from the National Institutes of Health via the company NaturemiRI. The goal of the project is to help develop a synthetic bone-graft substitute that promotes high-quality bone growth in alveolar ridge of dental patients, thereby offering a new tool in the treatment of craniofacial defects and tooth extractions performed in anticipation of dental implantation

Synthetic bone-graft substitutes are promising alternatives to current standard treatments for oral and craniofacial bone defects. MicroRNAs (miRs) are small, non-coding RNAs that have emerged as critical transcriptional regulators in stem cell differentiation and regeneration. Previous research findings demonstrate that significant potential exists to develop novel therapeutics for bone regeneration of craniofacial and periodontal bone defects by targeting miRs, and miR-200a specifically.

The NaturemiRI, LLC R&D team has developed the Plasmid-based microRNA inhibitor system (PMIS), a non-toxic, nucleic acid-based method of microRNA inhibition. This particular research project is part of an overall series of projects intended to validate and commercialize a PMIS-infused collagen sponge for use in clinical dentistry. Specifically, Dr. Hong’s team expects to show that a PMIS construct inhibiting miR-200a (PMIS-miR-200a) promotes high-quality bone growth in the alveolar ridge of dental patients, thereby offering a new tool in the treatment of craniofacial defects and tooth extractions performed in anticipation of dental implantation.

This project aims to optimize the in vivo osteoinductive capacity and alveolar bone regeneration of PMIS-miR-200a adsorbed in collagen sponges and determine its toxicity risk using an animal model.

Whether it is fostering on-the-ground clinical experiences for our graduates, developing a curriculum closely tailored to the needs of 21^st century dentists, promoting cutting-edge educational innovations, or leading the way in dental education scholarship, the University of Iowa College of Dentistry is a worldwide leader in the field of dental education. According to Dean David Johnsen nurturing a culture of inquiry and respect is crucial to the Iowa experience.

One of the most consistent messages from our alumni is that their vast amounts of clinic experiences prepared them well to excel as dentists. Graduates from the college have as much experience in ADA recognized specialties as any dental graduates in the country. Both before and after the COVID-19 pandemic, the college has been a leader in clinical activity for our predoctoral dental students, ranking fifth in the nation in total clinical activity despite having significantly fewer students than higher ranked dental schools. In the Big Ten, Iowa has nearly twice the clinical activity in the fourth year than does each other dental school.

This level of clinical activity is matched with Iowa’s innovative and unique curriculum, spearheaded by the college’s Associate Dean for Education and Curriculum, Dr. Michelle Krupp. The overarching goal of the curriculum is to transform dental novices into independent, competent, and autonomous dentists over the course of four years beginning with foundational knowledge and limited clinical experiences through focused educational and clinical experiences in a wide range of dental specialties in the third-year, and culminating with a vast amount of clinical experiences during the fourth year where students synthesize and integrate what they have learned as they apply it in clinical experiences in the Department of Family Dentistry. This curriculum is infused with a focus on critical thinking and implementing evidence-based practices, and despite the educational and clinical challenges posed by COVID-19 pandemic, the faculty, staff, and students at Iowa have continued to grow and thrive.

This unique and transformative environment has also fostered a dedicated group of researchers and clinicians who are experts in the field of dental education. Two of our faculty members, Dr. Satheesh Elangovan and Dr. Leo Marchini are on the editorial board for the Journal of Dental Education, the flagship journal in dental education.

Additionally, each year, the American Dental Education Association offers national webinars on important topics in dental education on a wide variety of topics. From June through November, University of Iowa faculty and staff have presented three of these national webinars, including Dean David Johnsen’s webinar, “Critical Thinking in Dental Education,” drawing from his co-authored publications with many UI dental faculty members expressing the thinking of experts in discrete manageable steps that allow students to see, understand, and reproduce in assessments the thinking of experts in a variety of fields.

It also included Dr. Ahmed Mahrous, clinical assistant professor in the Department of Prosthodontics, whose webinar, “Where Are We? Virtual and Augmented Reality in Dental Education” drew from his cutting-edge research describing how digital technology and techniques can replace physical objects, like teeth, models, and so forth. Such an approach gives greater flexibility and availability for dental education, and this research has resulted in numerous publications, and Dr. Mahrous and Dr. Amira Elgreatly, clinical assistant professor in the Department of Operative Dentistry, received an Iowa Challenge award to develop a entrepreneurial project based on this work.

The third webinar was presented by the college’s embedded social worker, Kirsten Flick, and Ann Synan, patient representative specialist and communication coordinator, entitled “Taking CARE of Barriers: How Social Work Impacts Dental Education.” Flick and Synan spoke about the value of taking a social-work perspective in patient care and its great impact on patient care and improving access to care.

These snapshots into the educational landscape at Iowa give a small glimpse of the large tapestry of talent and energy that the college has dedicated to its educational enterprise. That’s why Iowa will remain a leader in dental education.

Dr. James S. Wefel was a deeply-valued faculty member of the College of Dentistry, who wore many hats in his 40 years of service (1972-2012). He was affiliated with the Department of Pediatric Dentistry and the Dows Institute for Dental Research (now the Iowa Institute for Oral Health Research). He was a well-known professor, researcher, published author, distinguished international speaker, mentor, and innovator. Above all, he was a devoted friend, and he genuinely cared for the College of Dentistry and the people whose lives he touched.

The research award honors the contributions of Dr. Wefel to the College of Dentistry in the fields of Cariology and Dental Sciences. It is intended to encourage and assist promising students in their research endeavors.

The award committee: Dr. Karin Weber-Gasparoni, Dr. Xian Jin Xie, Dr. Jeffrey Banas, Dr. Steven Levy, Dr. Teresa Marshall, and Trudi Westfall are proud to announce the Inaugural James S. Wefel Dental Research Award 2020 recipients:

Chukwuebuka Ogwo (Mentor: Dr. Steven Levy; Department of Preventative and Community Dentistry) Predicting the Risk and Trajectory of Dental Caries Using Machine Learning Algorithm

Olajide Obe (Mentor: Dr. Cristina Vidal; Department of Operative Dentistry) Interaction of Odontoblasts with Products from Bacteria at Different Stages of Lesion Progression Modulate the Protein Expression and Activity of Cathepsins

Yun Jung Kim (Mentor: Dr. Justine Kolker; Department of Operative Dentistry) Evaluation of the effect of fluoride topical agents on the prevention of demineralization adjacent to resin modified glass ionomer restorations in vitro

Congratulations to all students and mentors for receiving such a prestigious award! Their names will be displayed on a new plaque at the entrance of the Iowa Institute for Oral Health Research and we wish them success in their research.

Be advised, the application cycle for the 2021 award begins soon! Applications are due May 15, 2021.  Please contact Mrs. Trudi Westfall in the Department of Pediatric Dentistry for more information.