NORTHEASTERN MINORITY ORAL HEALTH RESEARCH CENTER

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The Northeastern Minority Oral Health Research Center (NMOHRC) is a collaborative project between UMDNJ-New Jersey Dental School (NJDS) and University of Connecticut School of Dental Medicine (UCONN). The general aims are: 1-develop and implement a center to study oral health in minorities, specifically blacks, 2-strengthen the research capability of the NJDS with a specific emphasis on the design, implementation and analysis of research on the oral health of minorities, and 3-increase the participation of dental school racial and ethnic minority faculty members in research. The general focus of the research projects will be on dental caries, periodontal disease and cancer--three oral health problems that affect blacks more than whites. Studies will be based upon the biological /social/behavioral model which states that there are multifactorial causes of oral disease. The interrelated theme of the majority of prevalence and etiologies of these diseases in blacks. The NMOHRC will be composed of an Administrative Services Core and a Research Design, Data Management and Analysis Core (RDDMA)--a biostatistics and epidemiology core. Three small research projects will be conducted on dental caries and periodontal disease in middle income pre-school children, oral manifestations of HIV infection in a pediatric population and the identification of biological/behavioral markers of oral cancer in older blacks. Pilot projects will investigate such issues as adult caries (coronal and root) in a geriatric population, pregnancy gingivitis in teenagers, diabetes and periodontal disease, self-reporting of oral symptoms etc. It is anticipated that the results of these studies will enable the NMOHRC to submit a strongly competitive application for a full-scale center in two years.