A collaborative initiative, led by Harvard School of Dental Medicine (HSDM), recently received $4.4 million in funding from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) to establish a novel clinical practice-based research network to train future clinician-scientists over the next five years.

... Read more about Harvard School of Dental Medicine and Collaborators Receive $4.4 Million Grant to Train the Next Generation of Clinician-Scientists

A Harvard School of Dental Medicine (HSDM) student-run pediatric dental clinic has been named a recipient of an “Access to Care Grant” from the Massachusetts Dental Society (MDS) Foundation. The grant, totaling $10,000, will support the Action for Children and Teens in Oral Health Need (ACTION) clinic that provides care to pediatric patients at the Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA) in Cambridge and the...

Today’s dental students will need to be prepared to treat the most rapidly growing demographic in the United States—older adults. The population over the age of 65 is expanding significantly with 10,000 adults reaching this milestone each day. Despite older adults living longer, many have health issues, including on average two or more chronic health conditions.

While the number of older adults in the U.S. is increasing, the number of health professionals who specialize in their care is decreasing. Oral health providers who care for older adults must not only be open to...

Ultrasonography—a technique that uses echoes of ultrasound pulses to delineate objects or areas of different density in the body—has been used for many years in medicine, from monitoring babies in the womb to detecting gallbladder disease, however ultrasonography’s use in dentistry is still somewhat new. The development of a small ultrasound probe that fits in the mouth has been a gamechanger in discovering new intraoral uses for ultrasonography.

“It’s become the gold standard for evaluating soft tissue around teeth and dental implants in a very precise and non-invasive way,”...

HSDM Dean William Giannobile and Forsyth Institute CEO Wen Shi recently announced the recipients of the first Harvard School of Dental Medicine and Forsyth Institute joint pilot grants. Awards were made on October 1, 2022. Each project has a HSDM principal investigator and a Forsyth principal investigator and is funded with $50,000 per institution, per project, for one year. The following projects were selected for their potential to build on promising studies that will lead to future external funding.

... Read more about Pilot Grants Fuel Promising Research Collaborations

Dr. Yingzi Yang, professor of Developmental Biology and associate dean for Research, and Dr. Jennifer Gibbs, assistant professor of Restorative Dentistry and Biomaterials Sciences and program director for Endodontics, have been awarded $200,000 in seed grant funding from the Harvard Stem Cell Institute to investigate how stem cells could play a role in repairing dentin and preserving dental pulp. Their work may offer new biological solutions for those suffering from debilitating dental pain that can occur with deep cavities.

“As dental cavities progress into the innervated...

Harvard School of Dental Medicine (HSDM) and the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa (WHO AFRO) have teamed up to address critical oral health challenges in the African region, worsened due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The project aims to build the capacity of primary care workers in oral health promotion, and oral disease prevention and control, to better address the unmet demand for oral health services and strengthen oral health care systems. The team will develop an online oral health training program that will leverage digital technologies... Read more about Strengthening Oral Health Care Systems in Africa: New Agreement Between HSDM and the WHO Will Address Critical Needs

Harvard School of Dental Medicine’s department of Oral Health Policy and Epidemiology (OHPE) in collaboration with the Office of Global and Community Health (OGCH) was recently awarded a $3 million postdoctoral training grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Bureau of Health Workforce to address gaps in dental education and access to care in underserved and vulnerable populations in rural areas.

The five-year grant titled Catalyzing Oral Health Workforce for Rural and Vulnerable Populations will create the first and only Dental Public Health (DPH) Residency in the country with a dedicated rural track... Read more about HSDM Secures $3 Million Grant to Expand Dental Public Health in Rural Areas

Dr. Francesca Gori, assistant professor of Oral Medicine, Infection and Immunity, has a longstanding interest in studying the cellular and molecular pathways underlying cell fate and differentiation. Her research focuses on the identification and characterization of genes that regulate bone development and homeostasis as potential therapeutic targets. Recently, she was awarded an R56 National Institutes of Health (NIH) Award, as well as the William F. Milton Fund Award from Harvard University’s Office of the Provost to fund two studies that may lead to insights in human diseases...

By Ellen Garnett
Dr. Bernard Friedland, assistant professor in Oral Medicine, Infection and Immunity, recently received a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Fogarty International Center Award for his research project, “Development Initiative for Ethical Review and Oversight of Health Research Involving Human...

The first four recipients of the inaugural HSDM Dean’s Innovation Challenge were recently announced. The Dean’s Innovation Fund awards up to $25,000 of grant funding to HSDM faculty who propose innovative projects aimed at enhancing research, education or patient care.

Projects in basic, clinical, translational or social sciences were considered and evaluated based on the following criteria: their ability to gather pilot data that may be used to support future grant applications; their likeliness not to be funded by other mechanisms...

A distressed patient arrives at a dental clinic complaining of jaw pain and pleading for pain medication. The dentist suspects it might be temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJ), but closer examination reveals years of neglected dental disease, a history of substance abuse, and potentially a more serious condition that could be cancer.

The scenario is one that could happen in any dental clinic or doctor’s office, but this particular example is part of a detailed training module designed to educate health care professionals who have to make critical treatment decisions that often...

A $1.2 million cooperative agreement from Health Resources and Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will fund an innovative new program and partnership between the two universities that focuses on serving the primary care and oral health care needs of Boston area patients and their families.

The three-year funded project supports the creation of an interprofessional collaborative practice model in which primary care services are integrated into a primary academic dental practice. The program will give Northeastern University nurse practitioner...