Two Indiana University School of Dentistry (IUSD) faculty have received large federal grants to support their work to improve the oral health of underserved children and all Hoosiers.
The National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research has awarded Dr. Thankam Thyvalikakath a $2.4 million RO1 grant to develop and evaluate a usable patient medical summary from electronic medical records located in a health information exchange. This summary will provide patients’ most up-to-date medical history for their dental care providers. By providing a patient’s full medical history, the study aims to improve interprofessional dental-medical care delivery, promote preventive management, and reduce dental care costs.
Dr. Thyvalikakath is a professor in the dental informatics division of IUSD’s Department of Cariology, Operative Dentistry, and Dental Public Health. She directs the IUSD and Regenstrief Institute Dental Informatics program and is a research scientist in the Center for Biomedical Informatics at Regenstrief Institute. This research is a collaboration between Indiana University School of Dentistry and Regenstrief Institute. More information about this research may be found here.
The U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration awarded Dr. Allison Scully a $900,000 career development award to increase access to dental care for underserved children.
Dr. Scully is an assistant professor, board-certified pediatric dentistry specialist, and director of predoctoral pediatric dentistry in IUSD’s Department of Pediatric Dentistry. She will use this grant to address disparities in dental caries (cavities) prevention and treatment for children living in poverty and those with special health care needs.
Dental caries is the most common chronic disease of childhood and follows many chronic diseases in an inequitable distribution among the population.1 Data show that children living in families under 100% of the federal poverty level have 2.5 times the number of decayed tooth surfaces and 3.5 times the number of untreated decayed tooth surfaces as children of families living above the 200% federal poverty level. 2
Dr. Scully will study an evidence-based, multifaceted approach to treating dental caries in these underserved populations. The study also aims to improve the education and hands-on training of dental and medical students and primary care practitioners throughout Indiana, ultimately increasing access to care for children, including those with special health care needs. The grant aims to decrease caries burden and improve oral and overall health for Hoosier children.
In recent years, IU School of Dentistry’s research program has made significant gains in federally funded research projects and awards. The indirect-cost recovery generated by federally funded projects has increased by 400% between 2018 and 2021.
“The goal of these most recent prestigious grants is to improve oral health outcomes for Hoosiers, especially the underserved,” said Dr. Tien-Min Gabriel Chu, associate dean for research. “Their work will impact the broader national and world community by advancing knowledge focused on the prevention and cure of dental disease and the maintenance of health.”
1Dye BA, Li X, Thorton-Evans G. Oral health disparities as determined by selected healthy people 2020 oral health objectives for the United States, 2009-2010. NCHS data brief. 2012:1-8.
2Dye Ba, Tan S, Smith V, et al. Trends in oral health status: United States, 1988-1994 and 1999-2004. Vital and health statistics Series 11, Data from the national health survey. 2007:1-92.