College of Dentistry and Dental Clinics

Building on his February 2020 NIH grant, Azeez Butali, professor in the Department of Oral Pathology, Radiology, and Medicine, was awarded a $133,526 supplemental award to identify the mental health challenges among African mothers and their children affected by orofacial clefts.

The Nakao Foundation awarded Akimasa Tsujimoto a 90K+ grant to compare outcomes of four restorative materials—glass hybrid, conventional glass ionomer cement, resin-modified glass ionomer cement, and resin-based composition restorations—among adults age 65 or older. In particular, the researchers are evaluating whether glass ionomer-based restorations may have superior clinical outcomes for this population than resin-based composite restorations.

The college’s Clinical/Dental Education Research Initiative Support Program (CRISP) selected Hong Chen and John Warren’s pilot study investigating temporomandibular disorders (TMD) and overall health among college students. This study lays the foundation for a further National Institutes of Health exploratory research grant with the long-term aim of improving prevention and early detection of TMD.

The National Institutes of Health awarded Steven Levy and his research team a $325K grant to identify factors that are associated with improved oral health-related quality of life through early adulthood among those who participated in the Iowa Fluoride Study. This is the first study that will make predictions about oral-health related quality of life based on longitudinal data.