Dr. Chonghwa Kim started in the Department of Family Dentistry on Dec. 29 after several years in South Korea.

Robert Bowers, Sukirth Ganesan, and Aline Petrin were each selected as 2023 Mentors of the Years by the Dental Student Research Group. Follow the link for photos of all three awardees with their students.

The Academy of Osseointegration awarded I-Ching (Izzie) Wang, clinical assistant professor of periodontics, and Anvita Maharishi, assistant professor of family dentistry, a $30,000 translational and clinical science research grant for their project, Correlation Between Peri-implant Mucosa Color and Tissue Dynamics: Phenotype and Health Recognition Using Dental Ultrasonography.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.