Department of Preventive and Community Dentistry

FACT SHEET

Educational mission • The preparation of oral health practitioners who recognize and understand: the

psychosocial characteristics of dental patients; the conditions that cognitively and psychologically, medically or physically compromise dental patients; the societal, ethical and cultural values, community influences, and political systems and trends that affect dental behavior and dental practice; the effects of these various factors on the oral health of the public and the practice of dentistry; and the principles of preventive dentistry as applied to individual patients, popula-tions groups, and entire communities.

• Responsible for 17 predoctoral courses including: o o Cariology; prevention; communication; experiential learning; nutrition; eth-

ics; community dentistry; and administration of extramural experiences• Courses in each year of predoctoral curriculum• Clinical courses include: o Preventive clinic (D1-2) o Required extramural programs (D4), including • Special Care Clinic/Geriatric Mobile Unit • Using portable dental equipment, provide comprehensive dental care for residents of 10 nursing homes in a four-county area • ADA Geriatric Oral Health Care Award (1998) • Two sites per student, each 5 weeks in length • Includes Iowa community health centers, VA medical center, children’s dental services at area hospital, private preceptorships, and a few out-of- state locations (e.g., Indian Health Service, Colorado Migrant Program) • At least 15 percent of time spent performing non-treatment community service

Predoctoral Education

• Responsible for 16 graduate courses• 2-year Dental Public Health graduate program o Commission on Dental Accreditation accredited since 1975 o Offers Master of Science degree o Thesis required• Initiated Geriatric Dentistry Fellowship

Graduate and Postdoctoral Education

Current Students• 300 predoctoral (College of Dentistry)• 8 M.S. (Dental Public Health)• 1 Ph.D. candidate• 1 Post-doctoral Fellow

Department Faculty• 5 Professors• 4 Associate Professors• 1 Clinical Associate Professor• 2 Assistant Professors• 1 Clinical Assistant Professor• 1 Part-time faculty• 64 Adjunct faculty, primarily extramural clinical sites

• ADEA/GlaxoSmithKline Excellence in Teaching Award (2003)• One endowed professorship

• 4 Diplomates, American Board of Dental Public Health• 2 Diplomates, American Board of Special Care Dentistry

Staff• 1.5 Secretarial• 1 Dental Hygienist (Geriatrics and Special Needs)• 3 Dental Assistants (Geriatrics and Special Needs)• 6 Research

Main Areas of Research• Fluoride ingestion/exposures and dental caries/dental fluorosis• Fluoride ingestion and childhood bone development• Diet and oral health• Genetics and dental caries/dental fluorosis• Early childhood caries epidemiology and prevention• Oral health services research, focusing on cost, access, quality of care, and out-

comes• Epidemiologic study of oral problems in the elderly

Websites http://www.dentistry.uiowa.edu/public/clinics/preventive/prevent.html http://www.dentistry.uiowa.edu/public/clinics/preventive/prevgp.html