Research

Pitt Dental alumnus and resident Dr. Michael Chambers (DMD ’12) has been honored as a 2016 inductee into the Charles G. Watson Chapter of the Arnold P. Gold Humanism Honor Society. Dr. Chambers was selected by his peers of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Class of 2016 in recognition of his outstanding clinical and interpersonal skills. Before he attended dental school, Dr. Chambers served as a school band instructor. He credits to his artistic background in aiding in his success for “in addition to being a musician, I am also an artist and enjoy drawing, painting, and sculpting.  These fine motor skills have proven quite helpful as a dentist and surgeon”.

The Class of 2018 has achieved a 100% pass rate on Part 1 of the National Board Dental Examination (NBDE). This is a remarkable accomplishment and one which deserves recognition and congratulations. Please join members of the school in letting them know how much we appreciate their success. The class has demonstrated what it means to collaborate, work with diligence and pursue perfection. 

The purpose of the NBDE Part I and Part II examinations is to assist state boards in determining qualifications of dentists who seek licensure to practice dentistry. These examinations assess the student's ability to understand important information from basic biomedical and dental sciences to the ability to apply such information in a problem-solving context.

The National Institutes on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has awarded the University of Pittsburgh a $907,931 federal contract for the “University of Pittsburgh, Center of Excellence in Pain Education (CoEPE): Pain Challenges in Primary Care.” Twenty-two faculty from five of the Schools of Health Sciences will collaborate to develop interactive virtual cases ranging from opioid misuse following wisdom teeth extraction to widespread pain and fibromyalgia. The expertise of participating faculty includes dental medicine, general internal medicine, geriatric medicine, palliative care, rheumatology, neurology, pain medicine, anesthesiology, psychiatry, pediatrics, education, instructional design, instructional technology, chiropractic, nursing and pharmacy.

"We are very poroud of our DMD Class of 2018, who have demonstrated what it means to collaborate, work with diligence and pursue perfection. This group of students has achieved a 100% pass rate on Part 1 of the National Board Dental Examinations. This is a remarkable accomplishment and one which deserves recognition and congratulations. Please join me in letting them  know how much we appreciate their success."

Sincerely,

Thomas W. Braun, DMD, PhD
Distinguished Service Professor and Dean

Congratulations Dr. David Hay

David Hay, DMD, MPH, was selected to receive the Best Research Thesis Award by the Multidisciplinary Master of Public Health (MMPH) Program at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Hay is the chief resident in the Advanced Dental Education and Residency Program in Periodontics at the School of Dental Medicine. His project is titled ”Periodontal Disease among Community-Dwelling Diabetics: Evidence from a Diabetes Education and Promotion Event” and his research mentor is Dr. Pouran Famili, a professor in the Department of Periodontics. The award is given by the Pitt chapter of the Delta Omega National Public Health Honor Society.

Dental Hygiene students presented recent research, and faculty, staff, students, and alumni  of the School of Dental Medicine were invited to support and review their topics. More than 30 alumni and friends attended the event which offered two free continuing education credits to those in attendance. Dental Hygiene Program faculty served as advisors for each student group.  Students were tasked with presenting ongoing research in relation to dental hygiene practices.

Dr. Edward Adlesic (DMD ’76), clinical assistant professor at the School of Dental Medicine, was reelected as a Director for the American Dental Society of Anesthesiology (ADSA) for a 2-year term. ADSA comprises about 5000 dentists in the areas of oral and maxillofacial surgery, dental anesthesiology, pediatric dentistry, and general dentistry, who use moderate sedation, deep sedation, and general anesthesia in their practices