The University of Pittsburgh Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery has one of the foremost research programs in the country for OMS faculty, fellows, residents, and undergraduate students. Collaborative research occurs throughout the School of Dental Medicine, University of Pittsburgh Medical School, Department of Anthropology, Carnegie Mellon University, and the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh.

Some of the areas of interest include:

• Cranial suture biology,
• Reconstruction of cleft lip and palate,
• Gene therapy of craniosynostosis,
• Tissue engineering,
• Resorbable polymers,
• Surgical treatment of obstructive sleep apnea,
• Clinical uses of bone morphogenic proteins,
• Cleft and craniofacial outcomes registry,
• Facial trauma,
• Surgical reconstruction outcome for craniofacial trauma and congenital craniofacial anomalies.

The department has won several training grants to promote research awareness in oral and maxillofacial surgery among both residents and first professional students in the health care fields. Only five are awarded annually to programs that are among the best in the nation by the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Foundation, which is the research support arm of the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons.