Photos by Susan Merrell/UCSF
Third-year student Irene Cheng and resident Brian Hui prepare Domingo Bail for a tooth extraction.

By Terri Hunter-Davis

A toothache doesn’t care whether you have a job.

Being out of work often means being out of food, out of a home, out of options. But thanks to the UCSF School of Dentistry’s Community Dental Clinic, dental care is available to those who can least afford it.

The clinic, open Wednesday evenings at the Dental Center, is run by UCSF student dentists. Third- and fourth-year students, along with residents, provide the care; first- and second-year students are the coordinators, matching patients to providers and ensuring instruments and supplies are at the ready. Faculty are on hand to supervise. All is overseen by Caitlyn McGue, a third-year student who currently is the clinic director. Everyone works on a volunteer basis.

The clinic, launched in 1993, is able to treat most patients’ needs, from screenings, cleanings and check-ups to fillings, crowns, extractions and dentures. On average, 18-20 patients are treated in the clinic, free of charge. With generally 16 student dentists on duty, most — but not always all — patients are seen. Those who aren’t are given priority at the next week’s clinic, said McGue.

“One of the reasons I came to UCSF was this clinic,” said McGue, who did volunteer work during her undergraduate years in San Diego. “I love being here, and the people (who staff the clinic) want to be here.”

From toothbrushes to dentures

None more so than Jeff Eaton, DDS, associate clinical professor and the clinic’s faculty director. He’s been involved with the clinic for 20 of its 22 years — “when we had three students and all we could do was hand out toothbrushes and clean teeth.” Today, Eaton said, “it’s a full-service clinic.”

Eaton recalled the clinic’s early years, visiting places like Glide Memorial Church in the Tenderloin, spreading the word about the clinic’s services. The clinic still works with Glide, along with Project Homeless Connect, Father Alfred’s Center, Asian American Resource Center and Clínica Martín-Baro, to reach out to prospective patients — folks who truly don’t have other options for quality dental care.

“There was this guy, a Vietnam vet, a tall guy,” who came in for dentures not long after the clinic began providing them, Eaton said. On the day he came in to receive them, a photo was taken. When he saw it, “he broke down and cried.

“It feels so good to change someone’s life,” Eaton said.

A more recent patient, Domingo Bail of San Francisco, also was pleased — even though he was in to have a tooth extracted.

“I am so happy, no complaints at all,” said Bail. “I’ve had cleaning, filling, now the extraction,” over the last three months. He’s been the regular patient of Irene Cheng, a third-year student who turned over the extraction procedure to Brian Hui, DDS, an oral surgery resident. She, like the other volunteers, is happy to be of service.

“The people really want to help,” said Cheng, who volunteered in her first and second years as well. “And the patients really appreciate it.”

All bays are usually full at the Wednesday night clinic.

A tradition of service

Volunteering is not limited to students and faculty. Yesenia Jimenez, a Dental Center employee, gives of her time and talents too. Jimenez, who will mark her first anniversary with the Dental Center in March, began helping out about seven months ago.

“At a banquet dinner, I was really introduced to CDC — and I fell in love with it,” said Jimenez, who comes from a family tradition of volunteerism. “I pass out supplies, translate in Spanish, assist the students” — things she generally doesn’t get to do on the job.

Even as Jimenez’s service is above and beyond her work responsibilities, she salutes the students who are doing likewise.

“I look at the students, they’re in the clinic for eight hours and then they volunteer their time here — I applaud them,” she said.

Eaton has applause for Jimenez as well.

“She has been volunteering week after week and after working long days in the clinic.  And her participation has also been invaluable in translating to many of our Spanish-speaking patients.  She brings her compassion, dedication and expertise to our clinics week after week, and always with a cheery smile.”

Local patients, global solutions

For many patients, there’s a direct link between poverty and dental needs — and the conditions are found not just here, but halfway around the globe.

“I’m from India, and there we see a lot of this kind of work,” said Yuvika Kumar, who is in the school’s International Dentist Program and recently began volunteering at the Community Dental Clinic. In her home country, one is likely to treat patients who “don’t have a ‘perfect mouth.’ You get to think about other solutions.”

Those solutions would otherwise be out of reach for most patients. The clinic has provided the equivalent of $700,000 in care over the last decade, and has topped the $1 million mark since inception — made possible through donated equipment, access to clinic space and, of course, volunteers like Katharine Jones, DDS, a 1993 School of Dentistry alumna and clinical instructor who also has her own practice in Belmont. But she plays down her own contribution.

“The students should get all the credit.”

Related links:

Community Dental Clinic

By Bill Stein

For Marilyn Herand, surviving a rare mouth cancer was the easy part. The bigger question was what quality of life she would have after treatment.

Herand was diagnosed with a minor salivary gland tumor. The nature and location of the tumor ultimately required the surgical removal of all of her upper teeth, palate and upper jaw. Without a prosthesis, she wouldn’t be able to talk, eat or swallow.

“Sometimes what’s done to address the disease process of cancer can leave a patient without a good, functional quality of life,” said Arun Sharma, DDS, MS, clinical professor at UCSF. “Fortunately for Marilyn, we were able to bring back her functionality with a creative reconstructive effort.”

While having a functional quality of life is important for anyone, it was especially crucial for Herand, whose job as a coordinator for the Fulbright Visiting Scholar Enrichment Program in the Bay Area required considerable travel and frequent in-person interaction.

“I was in constant contact with scholars, local professors, arranging meetings, and speaking at meetings and seminars, so talking was an essential part of my position,” said Herand. “Without the obturator and the teeth that Dr. Sharma created, I would not be able to talk or be understood, and my mouth would pull to the inside without the prosthesis.”

Planning for the prosthesis was challenging. “We knew that Marilyn was not going to have enough teeth remaining to anchor a prosthesis but we couldn’t pursue a plan until after getting the final pathology on whether all the cancer was removed or not,” said Sharma. Depending on the success of the surgery, post-operative radiation therapy may have been necessary, which would have changed the course of specific reconstructive efforts.

Two options were considered. The first involved bone grafting and a much more invasive, longer surgery. The second option, the one ultimately pursued, was placing implants in an unusual area, the zygomatic arch, and having the prosthesis made on that.

Brian Schmidt, DDS, MD, PhD, placed Herand’s implants almost eight years ago. She comes to UCSF every few months for readjustment and remains free of cancer. By all measures, she is thriving.

“Every time I see Marilyn, it makes me feel good about what I’m doing,” Sharma said. “As a provider, when somebody comes in with the type of disease process that Marilyn had and you’re able to rehabilitate them and allow them to be a functional part of society again, you feel very satisfied about what you do.”
 

Yvonne Kapila, DDS, PhD, returns to UCSF as professor and vice chair of the Division of Periodontology, in the Department of Orofacial Sciences.  Dr. Kapila’s recruitment is supported in part by the Chancellor’s Mid-Career Faculty Recruitment Program.

Dr. Kapila obtained her BA degree from Stanford University and her DDS, PhD, Periodontics Specialty Certificate and Postdoctoral Fellowship training from UCSF. She is a diplomate of the American Board of Periodontology and a fellow of the International College of Dentists. She became an assistant professor at UCSF in 1999 and was recruited to the University of Michigan in 2004, where she rose through the ranks to full professor with tenure.

Dr. Kapila's research for over 20 years has focused on the cell and molecular biology mechanisms that regulate anoikis, a form of apoptosis or programmed cell death in head and neck cancer processes and in inflammation. Recent work in her lab has focused on the metabolic mechanisms that regulate head and neck cancer and on host-microbial interactions. She has authored more than 60 peer reviewed publications in such journals as Biochimica et Biophysica Acta Cancer Reviews, Cell Death and Differentiation, Cancer, Molecular Biology of the Cell, Journal of Proteome Research, Journal of Biological Chemistry, Genes and Cancer, PLOS one, and approximately 75 abstracts and book chapters.

Dr. Kapila’s main focus in teaching and mentoring is centered in the postgraduate dental programs, including periodontology and in the oral health sciences PhD program. She has provided patient care at the Community Dental Clinic in Ann Arbor for more than 10 years; prior to that, she was part of the periodontology faculty practice at UCSF. She directed the Global Oral Health Initiatives Program at the University of Michigan School of Dentistry, formally organized all major global oral health related activities at the school and created two main flagship programs for the school focused in Kenya and Brazil. In partnership with the International College of Dentists, Dr. Kapila organized annual student exchange programs and a United Nations program focused on oral health.

Dr. Kapila has served her local and national community in several capacities. Locally, Dr. Kapila served on campuswide committees related to global health, chaired faculty search committees, was a member of the dean’s search committee, served on the executive committee and the appointment, promotions and tenure committees for the School of Dentistry. Nationally, Dr. Kapila was a standing member of the NIH study section ODCS for several years, and currently serves on the NIDCR council as a standing member. She also has helped her clinical specialty by serving as a member of the research committee of the American Academy of Periodontology.

Sunil Kapila, BDS, MS, PhD, returns to UCSF as chair of the Division of Orthodontics, in the Department of Orofacial Sciences. This position will be vacated by Ophir Klein, MD, PhD, as of April 1, 2016. Dr. Kapila also will assist Dean Featherstone in administering special projects related to the implementation of our new strategic plan.

Dr. Kapila currently is the Thomas M. and Doris Graber Endowed Professor in the Department of Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry at the University of Michigan. He obtained his dental degree at the University of Nairobi, Kenya, an MS in orthodontics at University of Oklahoma as a Fulbright-Hayes Scholar, and a PhD in oral biology from UCSF. He served as the first Eugene E. West Endowed Chair of Orthodontics at UCSF prior to being recruited to the University of Michigan to chair the Department of Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry. 

As department chair at Michigan, Dr. Kapila built an academically strong and balanced department through strategic recruitment of faculty with diverse backgrounds. Through hands-on mentorship he achieved a high level of faculty and student success including fostering faculty towards becoming NIH-funded investigators, and the awarding of numerous national and international awards to faculty and students. He also built interdepartmental and intercampus collaborations including establishing research collaborations with faculty at UM’s School of Engineering and recruiting mentors from the Schools of Medicine, Dentistry and Public Health and the College of Literature, Sciences and Arts for an NIH Institutional Career Development (K12) Award. Dr. Kapila has a proven ability to run efficient clinical operations with reinvestment of reserves toward enhancing institutional and programmatic goals. He has had exceptional success in fund raising that has been instrumental in creating endowments for professorships, student scholarships and for a new interprofessional CODA-accredited craniofacial and special care orthodontics Fellowship program.

Dr. Kapila has a history of consistent NIH funding on the hormonal basis for temporomandibular joint (TMJ) degeneration and on periodontal bone biology. He is the principal director of an NIH Institutional Career Development (K12) Award, the focus of which is to enhance research capacity in TMJ disorders and orofacial pain. He has published many peer-reviewed papers, chapters and proceedings on the regulation of cartilage and bone extracellular matrix remodeling, orthodontic biomaterials, biomechanics and 3-D imaging. Dr. Kapila has published two top-rated textbooks: “Current Therapy in Orthodontics” and “Cone Beam Computed Tomography in Orthodontics.” He serves on the editorial board or as a reviewer of several journals and has served as a member of several NIH grant review panels. 

Dr. Kapila has held or holds national leadership positions, including serving as president of the Craniofacial Biology Group of the International Association for Dental Research and chair of the American Association of Orthodontist Foundation’s Planning and Awards Review Committee. He has initiated and co-directed inter-institutional consortia for technology transfer and faculty mentorship initiatives. His research awards include the American Association for Dental Research’s Hatton Award, the American Association of Orthodontists' Milo Hellman Award, and the AAOF’s B.F. Dewel Research Award. He also has been recognized by the AAO for his contributions to the profession by being honored to present the prestigious Jacob A. Salzmann Lecture at the association's annual meeting in 2013. His achievements have been acknowledged by his alma mater through UCSF’s 150th Anniversary Alumni Excellence Award and the Outstanding Alumnus Award from the University of Oklahoma’s Department of Orthodontics.

Dr. Kapila is a diplomate of the American Board of Orthodontics and fellow of the International College of Dentists.
 

The Division of Endodontics and the Department of Preventive and Restorative Dental Sciences announce the appointment of Kurt Schroeder, DDS, as interim director of the Postgraduate Endodontic Specialty program at the UCSF School of Dentistry. Dr. Schroeder will assume this role on March 1, succeeding Jeffrey Janian, DDS, who will continue to teach in the Postgraduate Endodontic Program as a volunteer faculty member.

Dr. Schroeder previously held this position, from 2007-09. He will continue his role as undergraduate course director of endodontics.

Dr. Schroeder received his DDS degree in 1985 from the University of Texas at San Antonio. In 1986 he completed a general practice residency program at the Veterans Administration in San Diego. Dr. Schroeder received his specialty certificate in endodontics at the Veterans Administration in Long Beach, Calif. in 1999. Upon completing his training, he returned to the Bay Area and began his specialty practice.

He has taught at the School of Dentistry in the pre-clinical laboratories and the pre-doctoral and postgraduate endodontic clinics since 2001. In 2005, he made the transition to a full-time academic career at the SOD and in 2007, he became undergraduate course director for endodontics, where he took charge of the endodontic curriculum for the third- and fourth-year dental students and foreign dentists in the International Dentist Program.

Dr. Schroeder has lectured locally, nationally and internationally on various topics in endodontics and he annually represents the school at the American Association of Endodontists: Pre-doctoral Program Directors meeting in Chicago.

A group of School of Dentistry students, including student government reps, put trust on the line at a Jan. 23 leadership and team-building retreat at Fort Miley Ropes Course. Here are some scenes from the day's activities:

A record number of 23 pre-doctoral students have been selected to participate in the 2016 Summer Dental Student Research Fellowship Program. Thanks to the strong support of the fellowships’ many sponsors, a broad range of research topic proposals have been funded, including stem cells, craniofacial development, biomaterials, laser technology, health literacy and health policy.

The selection committee was led by Lisa Chung, DDS, MPH, and included faculty from all four UCSF Dentistry departments as reviewers of the submitted research proposals. Selection was based on the scientific merit of each proposal, as well as on the anticipated training potential and research experience to be gained in conducting the project.

“We are thrilled this year to have a record number of fellows participate in the 2016 Summer Research Fellowship Program,” Dr. Chung said. “Each year I’m impressed with the ambitious proposals and what is actually achieved during the summer period, and I suspect this year will be no different.”

The 2016 fellows and their mentors are:

Student | Mentor
Laura Aguilar-Sanchez | Elizabeth Mertz
Rhett Berg | Cynthia Darling
Arielle Canoza | Stan Glantz/Cristin Kearns
Corissa Chang | Judith Barker/Kristin Hoeft
Taranvir Cheema | Benjamin Chaffee
Jaime Cheung |Lisa Chung
Karena Craemer |Diane Barber
Bronwyn Hagan | Jeffrey Bush
Tiffany Han | Rik Derynck
Linda (Chai Yoon) Kim | George Taylor
Jungsoo Kim | Jing Cheng
Raymond Lee | Daniel Fried
Manabu Manandhar | Sarah Knox
Morgan Nelson | Andrew Jheon
Thomas Nguyen | Stefan Habelitz
Arvin Pal | Sunita Ho
Alexander Powell | Joel White/Ram Vaderhobli
Alex Romash | Sneha Oberoi/Nathan Young
Daniel Ta | Grayson Marshall
Roberto Velazquez | Ann Lazar
Ivy Vuong | Susan Ivey/Karen Sokal-Gutierrez
Beinan Zhao | Stuart Gansky
Grace Zhu | Richard Schneider

“Along with these outstanding fellows, we have 23-plus faculty mentors that will provide this excellent learning opportunity to take place. This faculty-student mentoring relationship is really at the core of the program,” Dr. Chung said.

The fellowships are funded through the generous support of the UCSF School of Dentistry Dean’s Office, Department of Orofacial Sciences, Department of Preventive and Restorative Dental Sciences, Department of Cell and Tissue Biology, Buchanan Dental Center, Program in Global Oral Health, Program in Craniofacial Biology, American Association for Dental Research (AADR) Summer Fellowships, Associate Dean for Education and Student Affairs Dr. Dorothy Perry, Associate Dean for Research Dr. Thomas Lang, emeritus faculty Drs. Deborah and John Greenspan, emeritus faculty Dr. Caroline Damsky and Dr. Peter Sargent, the John C. Greene Fund and Delta Dental.

William Landis, PhD, of the University of Akron, has been named the UCSF Presidential Chair for 2016-17. His appointment will be within the School of Dentistry.

Dr. Landis is an expert in biomineralization, and his presence at UCSF offers a unique opportunity to enhance programs across the UCSF campus that deal with mineralization of the bones and teeth and the pathogical conditions related to biomineralization.

The chair proposal is threefold:

1. Providing explanation and knowledge of the onset and progression of normal and pathological mineralization in vertebrate tissues to the extent those aspects are known;
2. Advancing current understanding of mineralization through ongoing research studies at UCSF; and
3. Encouraging a deeper appreciation of mineral formation at UCSF through a thematic conference on mineralization and its roles in human health and disease.

Dr. Landis currently holds the G. Stafford Whitby Chair in Polymer Science at the University of Akron. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusettts, Amherst, and earned his master's and doctorate degrees at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Dr. Landis' one-year appointment begins in January 2017. He will hold the title of visiting professor.

Dr. Pamela Den Besten, DDS, MS, is stepping down from her position as chair of the Division of Pediatric Dentistry to focus on the UCSF Children’s Oral Health Research Center (COR), which she established with an award from the Chancellor in 2013. COR is a cross-campus initiative that brings together people interested in translational research related to children’s oral health. Dr. Den Besten spearheaded the successful recruitment of Drs. Terumi Kohwi-Shigematsu, PhD, and Yoshinori Kohwi, PhD, who brought their very successful laboratory and team from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to COR at UCSF in September 2015.

Dr. Den Besten is the co-director, with Dr. Ralph Marcucio, PhD, of the UCSF School of Dentistry’s prestigious DDS-PhD and PhD programs within the Graduate Program in Oral and Craniofacial Sciences, and has mentored and trained a large number of scientists as part of this program. She joined the UCSF School of Dentistry faculty in 1995 as chair of the Division of Pediatric Dentistry, which she grew from the ground up to a very successful division over 20 years. The Postgraduate Residency Program in Pediatric Dentistry, for which she obtained GME funding, is one of the premier pediatric dentistry programs in the United States, and is directed by Dr. Thuan Le, who is a graduate of the UCSF PhD program in Oral and Craniofacial Sciences and Postgraduate Pediatric Dentistry Residency. Dr. Den Besten also spearheaded the creation of the Pediatric Dentistry clinic at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital San Francisco, which provides the full spectrum of dental care for both inpatients and outpatients. Dr. Den Besten and her team should be applauded for launching this clinic over the past year.

Dr. Caroline H. Shiboski, DDS, MPH, PhD, Leland A. and Gladys K. Barber Distinguished Professor in Dentistry and chair of the Department of Orofacial Sciences, will step in as interim chair of the division, effective immediately, until a new chair is named. 

Related links:

Children's Oral Health Research Center

Mentors often are unsung heroes, supporting and guiding their students. The American Association for Dental Research turns that around, with its annual Student Research Group Mentor Award. This year’s honoree — selected from student nominations — is Lisa Chung, DDS, MPH.

The award was established to provide national recognition of outstanding faculty advisers. Dr. Chung’s students agree on the “outstanding” moniker.

“Dr. Chung is an incredibly supportive and encouraging mentor, and nurtures the strengths and weaknesses unique to her student mentees to make sure they get the most out of the research experience,” said Helen Nguyen, class of 2018. Nguyen, who was Dr. Chung’s summer research fellowship mentee last year, was one of the students submitted a nomination. “She always stresses critical thinking and the application of research results by asking questions that implore you to think further about what the numbers and analysis mean — not only for the research project at hand, but for the dentistry and public health fields, for clinical practice, and for the health of the population.”

Jose-Julio Hernandez-Blouin, class of 2016, concurred. “Dr. Chung’s dedication to teaching, research and oral health truly made an impression upon me through all her guidance in my research. She was always enthusiastic and excited to help, whether it was brainstorming or critiquing my conclusions and abstract. Ultimately, she was an incredible source of support who made my experience in research and public health invaluable.”

Dr. Chung, who is scheduled to receive her award during the AADR/CADR Annual Meeting on March 17, was unsurprisingly modest. “The nomination alone is a huge honor — to be thought of in this light by the students,” she said. “We have such outstanding students, and the one-on-one mentoring of them comes with its own rewards, so to receive this award is like a bonus gift.”

Photo by Susan Merrell
Shaun Abrams, PhD student in Oral and Craniofacial Sciences, took the runner-up spot in the UCSF Grad Slam contest.

Shannon Smith-Bernardin, a student in the Nursing Health Policy PhD Program, has won this year's UCSF Grad Slam contest. The runner-up was Shaun Abrams, a student in the Oral and Craniofacial Sciences PhD Program, for his presentation titled “The New Face of Cilia,” about how errors in cell-signaling cause common facial birth defects.

Ten finalists competed for the top prize of $3,000 at an exciting live event on March 10 at UC San Francisco's Mission Bay campus.

Grad Slam, organized by the UCSF Graduate Division, challenges PhD students to present their dissertation research in just three minutes using language that non-specialists can understand.

The March 10 event represented the culminating stage of the Grad Slam competition, which began in January. The finalists were selected from a larger pool of PhD students, who initially entered the contest by submitting a three-minute talk about their research as a video. A panel of screening judges, made up of faculty and staff, chose the finalists based on these video entries.

>>Read the complete story at UCSF News Center

Related links

• Watch Shaun Abrams' Grad Slam presentation
• UC systemwide Grad Slam

Our 2015-2020 Strategic Plan focuses on excellence in patient care, education and discovery. This month we feature the Patients/Health section of the plan.

For many years the clinical areas within the School of Dentistry have functioned as separate units. This structure can be difficult for both our patients and staff. It can be difficult for patients to transition their care from one clinic to another. They may receive bills from multiple systems. Those of us who work here may not know the full range of services that we provide.

Our strategic plan now directs us to unify our excellent clinical services under the banner of UCSF Dental Center. UCSF Dental Center is the “brand” that we advertise to our patients. We want to be known in the community as the place to go for any oral health care need. We want to make it easy for patients to find us, and we want them to have an extraordinary experience.

We will place a priority on access – getting patients into appointments when they want to be seen – as well as patient satisfaction. Measures of patient satisfaction, such as how often patients had a positive experience with their doctor or how quickly they received care, are associated with better oral health.

As we work to create an integrated, coordinated center for oral health care, we are committed to providing our patients with care that is:

• Safe — We will avoid injuring our patients in the course of providing care that is intended to help them.
• Effective — We will provide services based on scientific knowledge and refrain from providing unnecessary services.
• Patient-centered — We will provide care that is respectful of and responsive to individual patient preferences, needs and values, ensuring that our patients’ values help guide our clinical decisions.
• Timely — We will reduce delays, for those who receive care as well as for those who provide care.
• Efficient — We will avoid waste, including equipment, supplies, ideas and energy.
• Equitable — We will provide care that is consistent in quality, regardless of personal characteristics such as gender, ethnicity, geographic location and socioeconomic status.

Look for more about our strategic plan in April, and learn more about our commitment to achieve excellence in patient care, education and discovery.

Related link:

• About the School of Dentistry Strategic Plan

School of Dentistry students and faculty basked in the limelight last weekend, receiving a number of honors and awards at the American Association for Dental Research Annual Meeting and Exhibition in Los Angeles and the American Dental Education Association Annual Session and Exhibition in Denver.

At the ADEA meeting, Lucy Hallajian, Nicole LaMantia and Valentina Zahran each received ADEA/GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare Preventive Dentistry scholarships. Wendan Li received an ADEA/Crest Oral-B Laboratories scholarship for pre-doctoral dental students pursuing academic careers.

Additional awards include an Olav Alvares Award for outstanding articles published in the Journal of Dental Education, to Benjamin Chaffee, DDS, MPH, PhD; and the ADEA/Sunstar Americas, Inc./Jack Bresch student legislative internship, awarded to Jean Calvo.

At the AADR meeting, first-year dental students Bronwyn Hagen (mentor: Jeffrey Bush), Daniel Ta (mentor: Grayson Marshall) and Beinan Zhao (mentor: Stuart Gansky) were awarded Student Research Fellowships. These fellowships, supported by several major industrial companies as well as by AADR group chapters, sections and members, are sponsored and administered by the AADR and have been created to encourage dental students living in the United States to consider careers in oral health research.

AADR competition winners include third-year dental student Mychi Nguyen, who won first place in the Hatton Competition – Junior Category; and second-year dental student Wendy Fu, who won third place in the 2016 DENTSPLY/Caulk Student Research Group competition.  Nguyen will compete in the Hatton Competition at the International Associate of Dental Research in Seoul, Korea, in June. 

Additional awards include the naming of Grayson (DDS, MPH, PhD) and Sally (PhD, emerita) Marshall as AADR Fellows. The AADR Fellows Program, in its first class, is designed to recognize leaders of AADR and individuals who have served AADR in various ways throughout their careers. The Marshalls are on the Oral & Craniofacial Sciences Graduate Program faculty.

Third-year dental student Minerva Loi formally began her term as National Student Research Group president.

Related links:

• Record Number of Summer Dental Student Research Fellows
• Students Vie in Prestigious Competitions
• Marshall Lab

Credit: iStockphoto

This article originally appeared in UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland's HandPrints Magazine

By Terri Hunter-Davis

Spying that first sliver of white in baby’s gums is one of those first-year hallmarks parents look forward to. It’s also a signal to start baby on a lifetime of good oral hygiene habits.

“We recommend a first visit to the dentist as soon as the first tooth erupts,” said Joshua Connolly, DDS, MPH, assistant director of hospital pediatric dentistry at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital San Francisco."It’s usually not much of an exam” — a 6-month-old is not a very still patient — but it starts both parent and child on the right note.

“We like to get pregnant women in for exams to counsel them on the importance of good oral hygiene,” Dr. Connolly said. “Untreated gum disease in expectant mothers can lead to low birth weight or pre-term delivery.”

The prevention of dental caries — commonly known as cavities — is paramount. While fluoridated water has helped lower the incidence of cavities in children, nothing beats flossing and brushing with fluoride toothpaste.

As soon as a child has teeth, you need to use topical fluoride in the form of toothpaste. Wiping teeth afterward (for those too young to rinse) helps prevent excess exposure to the fluoride.

But even with good habits, it seems some children are far more — or far less — prone to cavities. One factor is oral bacteria.

Some bacteria are more acid producing. We may not be born with the “bad” bacteria, but it’s easily acquired from others: through a kiss, shared utensils or food, even a swipe on the lips with a licked thumb. When your mother said not to eat after others, she was on to something.

“You don’t want to be that kid who won’t share,” Dr. Connolly remarked, “but it really seems to make a difference.”

Something else that’s making a negative difference is carbohydrates. We’ve long considered sugar the enemy of healthy teeth. Now it’s become evident that our carb-heavy diet also puts children at risk.

“Any sort of fermentable carbohydrate — crackers, noodles, corn, rice, fruit, juice, even milk — can feed oral bacteria to cause cavities,” Dr. Connolly said. Moreover, it’s not just the amount, it’s the duration of time on the teeth.

“We’re seeing the first uptick in dental caries in pediatrics since we started fluoridating water a half-century ago,” Dr. Connolly added. “We’re seeing major cavities in between teeth, baby teeth,” underscoring the importance of parent-child teamwork in caring for those first teeth.

But it doesn’t stop in mid-childhood. Regular dental exams — another important element in good oral hygiene — also help spot issues with wisdom teeth, which can start to erupt as soon as the early teen years.

Connolly recommends a set of panoramic X-rays at about age 12 or 13 to determine the status of the wisdom molars, and then a reassessment at about age 16. “The sooner you’re able to plan for possible extraction, the better,” he said. While not every person requires extraction, wisdom teeth can shift the rest of the teeth, as well as be prone to causing gum infection and cavity development.

Don't Give Teeth the Brush-Off

Parents expect to help babies and toddlers with brushing and flossing their teeth, but even older children may not have the manual dexterity to properly clean their teeth. Here are some tips for establishing good dental habits:

Under age 3:

• When teeth first emerge, brush with a tiny amount (the size of a grain of rice) of fluoride toothpaste at least twice daily.
• Start flossing when baby has two teeth that touch.

Ages 3-6:

• Use a pea-sized amount of toothpaste to brush your child’s teeth, at least twice daily.
• Teach children to spit, not swallow, the toothpaste.
• As children get older, teach them how to brush — and supervise them.

Ages 7-8:

• Continue supervising your child’s brushing. Use disclosing tablets — they stain bacteria on the teeth, making them visible — to show your child the spots she's missed.
• Use a floss holder to ease flossing.

Tweens and teens:

• Brush at least twice daily; floss at least once daily.
• Avoid sugary or starchy snacks (e.g., chips, fries, noodle bowls).
• Don’t smoke.
• Wear a mouthguard for sports and similar activities.
• Avoid lip and tongue piercings.
• Visit the dentist regularly.

UCTV — University of California Television, serving the entire UC system — features UCSF School of Dentistry research in its "Gateway to the Body: The Oral Cavity and Dentistry" video series.

Mark Ryder, DMD, looks at conditions, diseases and medications that may negatively impact your oral health and oral conditions that may affect the rest of your body in "Gums to Guts: Periodontal Medicine" (premiere date: March 7).

In "Can Lasers Fix Teeth," which premiered March 14, Peter Rechmann, DMD, talks about the world of laser dentistry, what it can do and how it works.

Loss of teeth has many associated problems. In "Dental Implants: Teeth with Titanium" (premiere date: March 21), Arun Sharma, BDS, explores the implications of lost teeth and different implant strategies that might help.

Upcoming videos include "Prevention of Tooth Decay is Worth Everything," featuring Dean John D.B. Featherstone, March 28; and "How to Get A Head in Life: The Development of the Craniofacial Complex," March 31. View all videos on UCTV's "Gateway to the Body"landing page.

A little card — no bigger than a smartphone — is among a set of new tools to knock down gender bias here at UCSF.

The card lists 10 actions anyone — regardless of gender — can take to ensure our campus is inclusive for women. It’s one of a half dozen tip sheets crafted by a working sub-committee of the UCSF Committee on the Status of Women (formerly the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on the Status of Women, and still colloquially referred to as CACSW).

“About a year ago, we were looking at the campus climate report — across the university, women felt less comfortable,” recalled Katherine Thompson-Peer, a postdoctoral scholar in the School of Medicine. She and the other sub-committee members — Suya Colorado-Caldwell, Shan Meltzer and Lauren Weiss — created the tip sheets which, in addition to the broadly focused “10 actions,” aim to help guide committee chairs, conference and seminar organizers, mentors and managers, and those serving on admissions and search committees. The tip sheets were officially launched Jan. 15 at the five-year anniversary celebration of the UCSF Office of Diversity and Outreach.

“The idea was that tips … formulated at portable checklists would be easy reminders for faculty and staff,” said Weiss, an associate professor in the School of Medicine. “We hope school and departmental leaders will hand out an appropriate tip sheet when they assign a new role, and that individuals receiving the sheets will post copies visibly to keep them in mind day to day.”

Although the materials have been available just for a couple of months, “the feedback has been outstanding,” said Larisa Kure, manager of the School of Dentistry’s Department of Cell and Tissue Biology and the Department of Microbiology and Immunology in the School of Medicine, and CACSW co-chair. Other groups “have wanted to take [the materials] and revise them for their use.”

Kure credits the group for making the tip sheets a reality. “It’s an amazing accomplishment, and the sub-committee are the ones who made it happen.”

>> Download one or all of the CACSW Tip Sheets here

Corissa Chang, a first-year student in the School of Dentistry, will receive a David E. Rogers Fellowship for her summer 2016 research project, “Importance of content and format in oral health instruction for low-income Mexican immigrant parents: A qualitative study.”

The fellowship, under the auspices of the New York Academy of Medicine, includes a $4,000 award. It is open to students completing their first year of medical or dental school. Student projects address the needs of underserved or disadvantaged patients or populations.

“Look, Mom! No cavities!” is an advertising slogan familiar to many in the United States. But for billions of people around the globe, it’s an unfulfilled promise.

Tooth decay and other oral health conditions affect nearly 4 billion people worldwide. In total, these conditions have a major negative impact on daily function and quality of life. This year’s Global Oral Health Symposium, “Oral Health Inequalities: From Measurement to Action,” highlights efforts to move beyond numbers to effective solutions.

“We’re going beyond the scope of medical and dental; we’re bringing together experts on policy, research, advocacy,” said Benjamin Chaffee, director of the Global Oral Health Program, which presents the symposium, April 7 at the Parnassus campus.

This year, those experts include the School of Dentistry’s Stuart Gansky, MS, DrPH, director of the Center to Address Disparities in Children’s Oral Health; Michelle Henshaw, DDS, MPH, associate dean for global and population health, Boston University; Gloria Mejia, DDS, MPH, PhD, assistant professor of epidemiology at East Carolina University, Greenville, NC; and Richard Watt, BDS, MSc, head of the Department of Dental Public Health at University College London.

All will address the problem of oral health disparities. While affluent communities and countries enjoy advances that help prevent decay and periodontal disease, the socioeconomically disadvantaged are far more prone to oral disease. “Differences are unavoidable,” Chaffee notes, “but some are unjust, unfair.”

The London Charter on Oral Health Inequalities (of which Watt was an author) summarizes the problem: “Oral health inequalities are not merely the differences in oral health status between the rich and the poor… A consistent stepwise relationship exists across the entire social spectrum, with oral health being worse at each point as one descends along the social hierarchy.”

Finding solutions is urgent: “Oral conditions affect more people than any other health condition,” Chaffee said.

The sixth annual Global Oral Health Symposium, “Oral Health Inequalities: From Measurement to Action,” is 1-5 p.m. April 7 in N-225 on the Parnassus campus. A reception follows. Space is still available; click here to register.
 

Periodontal disease is no fun, but that doesn’t mean learning about it can’t be.

For more than 35 years, Mark Ryder, DMD, a professor in the School of Dentistry’s Department of Orofacial Sciences, has been devoted to engaging his students during long lectures. His trick: Performing magic routines to illustrate complex scientific concepts.

“I always try to put myself in the perspective of the student,” says Ryder, who heads the Division of Periodontology. “They’re probably going to get a little burned out towards the end of the day, or even at the beginning of the day when they’re just trying to wake up. And I thought, ‘What can I do to just keep their attention, and also to reinforce some of the most important concepts I’m trying to get across in the lecture?’”

The bottom line, Ryder explains, is making sure his students are stimulated and entertained while learning to help them retain the concepts they’ll need to apply in their dental practice.

Read more at UCSF News Center.