College of Dentistry and Dental Clinics

Dean's Message

The Fall season is always busy at the college. Starting today, we have our Alumni Reunion weekend. I am looking forward to seeing old friends and colleagues, and honoring our esteemed alumni awardees. Next week, we also have faculty and staff retreat days where we get to share our collective accomplishments, see our colleagues from across the college, and continue supporting our college. We hope you will join for our alumni reunion today and tomorrow, and our faculty and staff retreats next week. Cheers! ~Clark Stanford

IOWA flags at an Iowa football game

Updates for September 16, 2022–September 22, 2022

YouTube Video presenting the 2021 Jarabak Award to Tom Southard

Tom Southard receives 2021 Jarabak Award

The American Association of Orthodontists presented the 2021 Louise Ada Jarabak Memorial International Teachers and Research Award to Tom Southard, professor of orthodontics at the University of Iowa. The award recognizes the person's teaching and research contributions to the field of orthodontics. The video was provided courtesy of the American Association of Orthodontists.

Iowa dental researcher receives supplemental NIH award

Building on his February 2020 NIH grant, Azeez Butali, professor in the Department of Oral Pathology, Radiology, and Medicine and the world's leading expert in orofacial clefts among African populations, was awarded a $133,526 supplemental award to identify the mental health challenges among African mothers and their children affected by orofacial clefts.

Hawkeyes help!

David Smith ('18 DDS), Dan Malloy ('20 DDS), the rest of the staff at Crow Valley Dental Care in Davenport, and Monica Foley—the dentist at Waterford Family Dental also in Davenport provided free dental services to Quad City residents recently. The clinic started providing care from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., but the line began forming at 6:00 a.m. In that time, the team saw 32 patients, performing 20 tooth extractions, 11 fillings, and 13 cleanings. It's great to see Hawkeyes making their community a better place for everyone!

Pre-dental Club at the University of Iowa

On September 6, the Pre-Dental Club hosted its first meeting of the year at the College of Dentistry. Over seventy undergraduate students expressed their interest in dentistry by attending the meeting. Fourth-year dental student Hannah Mumm, a former Pre-Dental Club member, executive member, and now a student advisor, presented on “Why Dentistry” and documented her pursuit of becoming a general dentist and why she opted to go to Iowa. The club also invited Dr. Gagliardo and Mrs. Gagliardo to talk about Iowa Mission of Mercy and how pre-dental students can be involved. Additional information about pre-dental club activities is available in the associated Facebook group.

The club also dispersed information about how to have a meeting with Rachael Kowbel, director of admissions. At the end of the meeting, current dental students led tours for attendees. The tour guides included first-year dental students Maddie Berst, Taylor Fridrich, Brayden Lyman, Greta Kumskis, and Kendall Oldham; second-year dental students Clare Caruso, Amam Nasir, Holly Weber, and Isabel Wolf; and fourth-year dental student Hannah Mumm.

The College of Dentistry welcomes Kate Milder

Kate Milder is a new student employee in clinic administration. Kate is from Iowa City and is a sophomore at the University of Iowa on the pre-dental track. When she is not busy with school, you can find her reading a book, enjoying the outdoors, or making crafts. Go Hawkeyes!

The College of Dentistry welcomes Sami Kayali

Sami Kayali is a new student employee who will be working mainly at the main entrance. After the war in Syria, Sami relocated to the UAE where he completed all 4 years of high school. After high school Sami moved to Iowa City to pursue his undergraduate degree. He’s currently finishing up his degree in mathematics and computer science. He is on a pre-dental track and plans to attend dental school once he graduates. Sami is very excited to join the team and to be working at the College of Dentistry.

Orthodontics Spotlight: Tom Southard

Although it is great to be recognized by external organizations, it also means a great deal to be respected by your peers who work with you day in and day out. With his recognition for the Jarabak award from the American Association of Orthodontists, we also wanted to highlight what Tom Southard's colleagues in orthodontics said about him.

Kudos to you!

Review by Michael and Mariah Haedike: "They are absolutely amazing with little kids."

Collaborative and innovative research

Uttamani JR, Naqvi AR, Estepa AMV, Kulkarni V, Brambila MF, Martínez G, Chapa G, Wu CD, Li W, Rivas-Tumanyan S, Nares S. Downregulation of miRNA-26 in chronic periodontitis interferes with innate immune responses and cell migration by targeting phospholipase C beta 1. J Clin Periodontol. 2022 Aug 4. doi: 10.1111/jcpe.13715. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36054706.

The research team compared expression of miR-26 (-26a-5p and -26b-5p) in gingival biopsies among samples from both periodontally healthy and diseased patients before and after non-surgical therapy. They assessed the relationship between therapy outcomes, miR expression, and the pathophysiology of periodontal disease. The team found that miR-26 is downregulated when a patient suffers from periodontal disease, but returns to levels similar to health patients four-to-six weeks after therapy. The mechanism that explains this relationship is likely that miR-26a-5p modulates inflammation, cell migration, and cytoskeleton arrangements of oral keratinocytes and PDL fibroblasts via direct interaction with phospholipase C beta 1. As such, it may be possible to target this mechanism for novel therapies.

Hawkeye pride!

Hawkeyes, especially Hawkeye dentists have always had a great deal of school spirit. One-hundred years ago in 1922, Max C. Frazier ('08 DDS), who was a practicing dentist in Oskaloosa at the time, wrote in to the University of Iowa alumni magazine (The Iowa Alumnus) speaking about "local interest in Iowa's championship football team." He added, "We want the followers of the game and more especially the Old Gold followers to know that we in this section appreciate the coaching staff of Iowa." Coach Howard Jones led the Hawks to a 7-0 record in 1922, and the team scored almost 30 points per game and giving up less than 5! 🖤💛🖤💛

Events

September 9, CE Course: Olin Family Visiting Lectureship, Peter Nordland, Utilization of Periodontal Plastic Surgery to Assist in the Esthetic Outcome.

September 10, Pregame Professional Program, Iowa v. Iowa State.

September 13, David Johnsen, “Connecting critical thinking outcomes with the scientific method," hosted by Eric Van Otterloo, Galagan B, 12:00 p.m.–1:00 p.m.

September 15, Fall 2022 Interview Day for Prospective DDS Students

September 16, Fall Meeting for the Dental Student Research Group, Galagan A, 12:00 p.m.

September 16, Alumni Reunion Weekend Reunion and CE-Classes Ending in 2s and 7s (details forthcoming)

September 17, Pregame Professional Program, Iowa v. Nevada (University Family Weekend)

September 17, Alumni Weekend Tailgate, Iowa v. Nevada

September 23, Fall 2022 Interview Day for Prospective DDS Students

September 30, CE Course: Elevating Patient-Centered Restorative Care: Integrating Technology and Biology to Optimize Outcomes

October 1, Pregame Professional Program (Michigan)

October 1, Alumni Tailgate, Iowa v Michigan

October 3, Fall 2022 Interview Day for Prospective DDS Students

October 11, Sriram Ravindran, “Engineering and Delivery of MSC Exosomes for Bone Repair," hosted by Clark Stanford, Galagan B, 12:00 p.m.–1:00 p.m.

October 14, Fall 2022 Interview Day for Prospective DDS Students

October 18, Bruno Lima, “Investigating Streptococcus gordonii surface protein regulation and biofilm formation," hosted by Cristina Vidal, Galagan B, 12:00 p.m.–1:00 p.m.

October 21, Fall 2022 Interview Day for Prospective DDS Students

October 28, CE Course: Pediatric Dentistry Legends in the Fall

October 29, Pregame Professional Program (Northwestern/University Homecoming)

October 29, Alumni Tailgate, Iowa v. Northwestern (University Homecoming)

November 4-5, Iowa Mission of Mercy, Des Moines

November 8, Shillpa Naavaal, “Oral Health and Pregnancy: Role of Programs, Policies, and Practices in Supporting Women's Oral Health and Overall Health," hosted by Julie Reynolds, via Zoom only, 12:00 p.m.–1:00 p.m.

November 11, Fall 2022 Interview Day for Prospective DDS Students

November 11, CE Course: A Full Day Endodontic Experience

November 12, Pregame Professional Program (Wisconsin)

November 16, Virtual Fall 2022 Interview Day for Prospective DDS Students

Notes and Resources

Lend a helping hand. Due to medical issues, Stacey Jones has exhausted her sick leave and vacation. If you would like to help Stacey by contributing vacation time, please go to the following website: CAT Leave, and click on “Catastrophic Leave Donation Form.”

Filling Station Menu

M-R: 7:30 a.m.–4:00 p.m.; F: 7:30 a.m.–3:00 p.m.
Closed Tuesday, September 20

The banner Hawkeye Smile image shows Herky with Austen Hawthorne, the revenue cycle manager in the dental business office.