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.

Leon Stanislav ('77 DDS) received the 2022 Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors, American Dental Association, and Center for Disease Control Fluoridation Special Merit Award.

A large contingent of University of Iowa College of Dentistry faculty, students, and alumni attended and presented at the National Oral Health Conference April 11-13 in Fort Worth, TX.

Aparna Shivanand Ingleshwar was awarded first place for the 2022 Leverett Graduate Student Merit Award by the American Association of Public Health Dentistry for Outstanding Achievement in Dental Public Health.

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.

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.

After working as a dental hygienist for several years, PhD candidate Jennifer Sukalski began pursuing health disparities research on access and use of dental care in Iowa. Her research looks at barriers to dental care in a holistic manner taking into account perceived social status.

Palliative care is a specialized form of health care that attempts to meet the needs of the whole patient, taking into account each patient’s values and goals to make informed decisions about managing pain and treatments. Xi Chen is bringing insights about palliative care to dentistry, focusing on improving oral health awareness, relieving pain, and helping a patient live as well as possible for the rest of their life.

The University of Iowa Public Policy Center's Patient-Centered Dental Home project is designed to improve the organization and delivery of dental care in a variety of care settings and in an integrated manner with other health care services. As part of this project, the PPC developed an interactive, online PCDH Clearinghouse of approximately 500 oral health quality measures and standards, which is now available.

The US Department of Health and Human Services awarded Dr. Julie Reynolds, assistant professor in the Department of Preventive and Community Dentistry, almost $100K for her project, "Dental Coverage for Pregnant Women and Parents in Medicaid: Impact on Children's Access to Dental Care." The project investigates how Medicaid coverage for parents, which some states provide and some states do not, affects how much children and parents use dental services. Dr. Pete Damiano and Dr. Jin Xian are co-investigators for the project.