College of Dentistry and Dental Clinics

Second-year dental students Frank Boksa and Mary Young have been awarded NIH Summer Dental Student Research Awards to conduct research at the National Institute for Dental and Craniofacial Research in Maryland.

Steve Levy and Chandler Pendleton received a new grant to analyze data obtained from the Iowa Fluoride Study using a new statistical analysis tool that can improve understanding and identify relationships between caries and fluorosis.

Starting with our first female graduate, Jessie Ritchey, in 1887 and continuing to this day, Iowa has proven itself a trailblazer for women in dentistry. The Class of 2024 is the first in the University of Iowa College of Dentistry’s history to have more female students than male students—helping move the national dentistry workforce closer to gender parity.

During the 2022 ADEA Annual Session on March 21, the ADEAGies Foundation presented the University of Iowa with a 2022 William J. Gies Award for Achievement for Academic Dental Institutions. This award recognizes Iowa’s cutting-edge Geriatric and Special Needs Program, led by director Howard Cowen, the Delta Dental of Iowa Foundation Professor in Geriatrics and Special Needs.

The University of Iowa College of Dentistry and Dental Clinics hosted a Give Kids A Smile event on Friday night, February 25, at the Iowa Children’s Museum in the Coral Ridge Mall. Thirty-two children received free oral health education, dental screenings, fluoride treatments, and they took home bags of oral hygiene supplies.

A Japanese dental materials and equipment manufacturer awarded Akimasa Tsujimoto, associate professor of Operative Dentistry, an $18,000 grant for his project evaluating the bonding performance of newly developed self-adhesive resin luting cement which can be used with or without a universal adhesive to various substrates. The aim is to determine whether this resin luting cement can improve the durability of dental esthetic restorations.

The University of Iowa College of Dentistry and Dental Clinics is a national leader in NIDCR research funding, dental education research, and the amount of patient care experiences that dental students receive.

Sukirth Ganesan and his team are using a multi -omics approach to study the relationship between periodontal disease and metabolic syndrome. The National Institutes of Health awarded them a R03 grant for over $300,000 for this project. The project will determine the precise relationship between these conditions, which could help prevent disease or provide early indicators of disease and possible avenues for treatment at an early stage of the condition.

The nonprofit organization, Smile Train, awarded Iowa professor Azeez Butali a $40,000 grant to study the genetic causes of cleft lip and palate among the Zulu population in South Africa. Butali is an internationally recognized expert in the genetics of cleft lip and palate, particularly among African populations. Butali is working with Thriona Naicker, a trained Medical Geneticist and PhD student at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Butali serves as Naicker’s mentor for his dissertation research.

Rufus P. Beshears (1909) and Rosalie Reddick Miller (1958) were two of the first Black graduates of the College of Dentistry. Black history month at the College of Dentistry is an opportunity for us to look at our past, celebrate the accomplishments of our esteemed alumni, and drive us to become a more inclusive community for our students, alumni, staff, and faculty.