The Midwest Regional Dental Public Health conference brings together dental public health professionals and students from Iowa and several nearby states. The conference has been held nearly every year since the 1990s through 2019, but the COVID-19 pandemic caused us to cancel the event in 2020, 2021 and for 2022. 

After 31+ years, over 200 publications, and the involvement of countless faculty, staff and students, formal funding for the Iowa Fluoride Study (IFS) will end in Summer of 2023.  Originally funded on September 1, 1991, as a 5-year NIH grant with a total budget of $1.3 million, the study recruited nearly 1,900 participants in Iowa hospital post-partum units from 1992-1995, and then, remarkably, followed this cohort for nearly a quarter-century, with formal subject contact ending in 2019.  During that time, the IFS and the companion Iowa Bone Development Study (IBDS) were awarded about $30 million.

The College of Dentistry is (mostly) back to normal after 2+ years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, most faculty at the College are back to their offices, although many of us also work from home more frequently than in the past.  We anticipate that the trend towards more in-person activities will continue during the 2022-23 year.

In July, 2020, the program received a 5-year, $2.78 million grant from the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) to establish combined advanced education training programs in Dental Public Health and either Geriatric and Special Needs Dentistry or Pediatric Dentistry.

Dental hygienists from the University of Iowa Department of Pediatric Dentistry hosted a booth on various dental professions at the annual Career Inspire event held in Cedar Rapids.

A recap of the 2022 University of Iowa Homecoming weekend.