Family Dentistry News

Anvita Maharishi

Family Dentistry faculty receives Early Career award

Tuesday, February 28, 2023
The Office of the Vice President for Research awarded Anvita Maharishi, assistant professor of Family Dentistry, a 2023 Early Career Scholars grant for her project, “Strength and Translucency of Lithium Disilicate Glass-Based Ceramic CAD/CAM Blocks.” These competitive $30,000 awards are intended to help tenure-track assistant professors develop competitive proposals that can secure awards with external funding. As part of the award, the OVPR supplies grant consultation and support, and substantive written critiques to help recipients improve their projects. In the study, Maharishi will investigate the effect of various fabrication methods, product formulations, and processing techniques used to manufacture high-strength silica-based ceramics frequently used in dental restorations such as crowns and bridges. Several companies produce the ceramics with similar formulas and altered processing techniques that differ from the original patented gold standard silica-based ceramic. The properties of these products are not well-documented and could lead to a wide variety of clinical outcomes, depending on the manufacturer. Maharishi aims to provide initial guidelines for use of these ceramics in direct patient care. This is one of two awards this year, and the second year in a row that Iowa Dentistry has received an award.
Robert Bowers

Family Dentistry faculty receives Early Career award

Monday, February 27, 2023
The Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) awarded Robert Bowers, assistant professor of Family Dentistry, a 2023 Early Career Scholars grant for his project, “A Novel Use of the Periodontal Ligament Injection for Delivery of Extended-Release Periodontal Therapeutics.” These competitive $30,000 awards are intended to help tenure-track assistant professors develop competitive proposals that can secure awards with external funding. As part of the award, the OVPR supplies grant consultation and support, and substantive written critiques to help recipients improve their projects. In the study, Bowers will investigate injections of extended-release therapeutics in the periodontal ligament. Dental practitioners currently use periodontal ligament injection to deliver local anesthesia safely and predictably to the gums and bone surrounding teeth. Bowers hopes to model how modified solutions would flow after injections, aiding in the development of a novel, non-invasive method to deliver regenerative, pain-relieving, or antimicrobial therapeutics. This is the second year in a row that Iowa Dentistry has received an award.
John Syrbu

Project evaluating photography in shade matching receives clinical research grant

Wednesday, August 10, 2022
The college’s Clinical/Dental Education Research Initiative Support Program (CRISP) supported John Syrbu’s project on the impact of digital photography on laboratory-fabricated dental restorations to support the college’s clinical research mission. This project will be the first quantitative measure of the influence of digital photography in shade matching and lays the foundation for establishing clinical guidelines for practice.
Dean Clark Stanford presenting the Collegiate Teaching Award to Marcos Vargas

Marcos Vargas receives Collegiate Teaching Award

Thursday, June 23, 2022
On June 22, Dean Clark Stanford presented Marcos Vargas, professor in family dentistry, with the 2022 Collegiate Teaching Award. This award recognizes a faculty member who exhibits an “outstanding contribution to dental students’, graduate students’ or residents’ intellectual and professional development.”
Hong Chen

Iowa Dental Faculty Lead National Effort on Advancing Predoctoral Dental Education in Temporomandibular Disorders

Thursday, May 12, 2022
Temporomandibular disorders (TMD) are the second-most common form of musculoskeletal pain, affecting up to one-third of Americans. Iowa dental faculty are on the cutting-edge of TMD care and are leading the way in ensuring that dental students receive adequate and proper education for understanding, preventing, and treating TMD.
Chris Barwacz

Dental Researchers Receive Industry-Sponsored Grant to Improve Implant Outcomes

Thursday, May 12, 2022
The dental equipment and supplies company, Dentsply Sirona, awarded Chris Barwacz a $160,000+ award to evaluate outcomes for a newly designed implant. The study will evaluate outcomes associated with dental implants, and it shows how a mutually beneficial relationship between the college and industry partners improves patient care.
Ariene Leme-Kraus

Iowa Dentistry Faculty Receive Industry Grant to Study Dental Desensitizers

Wednesday, April 27, 2022
Phoenix Dental awarded Ariene Leme-Kraus and Marcos Vargas a $15,000 grant for their project In Vitro Study to Evaluate the Efficacy of Potassium Oxalate Dental Desensitizer Formulas. This collaboration shows the value of academic-industry collaboration between the University of Iowa College of Dentistry and its industry partners.
Ana Diaz-Arnold with a patient and a student

Ana Diaz-Arnold Named 2022 D4 Faculty of the Year

Wednesday, April 27, 2022
For 34 years, Ana Diaz-Arnold (’84 G.P.R., ’87 M.S.) has been a fixture in the Department of Family Dentistry, teaching countless fourth-year dental students, mentoring and working alongside adjunct faculty, and treating her own patients, and as she retires in June 2022, her impact on the college and the dental profession in Iowa will remain long afterward.
Salvador Atienza teaching a student in the Family Dentistry clinic

Sanity for Saints: The Importance and Service of D4 Adjunct Faculty

Wednesday, April 13, 2022
For Iowa dental students, their fourth-year curriculum simulates aspects of a private practice environment. This experience successfully prepares Iowa graduates to practice dentistry independently. The approximately thirty adjunct faculty in Family Dentistry are the engine for Iowa’s success. These faculty members mentor fourth-year students as they go from novice clinical beginners to competent and independent clinicians.
Chris Barwacz

Barwacz Named DEO of Family Dentistry

Saturday, March 19, 2022
Chris Barwacz, associate professor in the Department of Family Dentistry, was named the Department Executive Officer of Family Dentistry in June 2021.

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