Current Activities

Research at the College of Dentistry encompasses a collaborative portfolio spanning basic, clinical, translational, and population-based science. Faculty investigators study the biological, genetic, immunologic, and microbial mechanisms underlying oral diseases—particularly periodontal disease—and their connections to systemic conditions such as diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, HIV, and chronic inflammation.

Through clinical trials, biomarker discovery, salivary diagnostics, and novel therapeutic approaches, researchers are advancing personalized prevention and treatment strategies to improve patient outcomes. Additional areas of focus include craniofacial genetics and growth, dental materials and wound healing, orofacial pain and sleep-related disorders, and innovative surgical and restorative techniques.

A strong commitment to public health, health equity, and community engagement guides research on oral health access, social vulnerability, mobile dental outreach, pediatric prevention programs, HPV vaccination, and oral cancer disparities—particularly in rural and underserved Kentucky communities.

Together, these efforts reflect a research mission dedicated to advancing oral health science, strengthening clinical care, and improving health outcomes through discovery, collaboration, and service.

Current Research Activities

Researcher	College Area	Topic / Area of Research	Brief Description of Project(s)
Luciana Shaddox	Periodontology	Aggressive Periodontitis	To investigate genetic, epigenetic and immunological pathways responsible for the LPS hyper-inflammatory response seen in children and families with aggressive periodontitis.
		Diabetes and Periodontitis	To determine the inflammation and microbial profile in uncontrolled diabetic patients with periodontal disease and to evaluate whether diabetic patients, with undesirable HbA1c levels and concomitant periodontal disease, will show improvement in periodontal status and glycemic following non-surgical periodontal treatment .
		Localized Aggressive Periodontitis (LAP) susceptibility	Expand our knowledge on the susceptibility of individuals at risk by including key additional genetic, epigenetic and inflammatory markers and clinical features of disease in an integrated framework for (a) discerning LAP from healthy controls and further defining mechanistic pathways of the disease and (b) predict LAP responders and non-responders in the at-risk population.
		Social vulnerability index and oral health	the goal here is to look into factor associated with oral health and oral health services utilization as it associates with social vulnerabilities in the state of Kentucky
Pam Stein	Dentistry Oral health practice, Public health	Public Health/Mobile Van and Outreach	To support the collaborative dental public partnerships between the KY Department of Public Health and the UK College of Dentistry with a focus on the established Kidsmile and Title V Varnish programs.
		Patient Care HIV	The Ryan White Dental Reimbursement program provides funds to the College of Dentistry to reduce our financial losses when providing care to these financnailly needy patients.
		HPV	Studying vaccination of HPV by dental care providers
		Oral cancer in KY	Research focuses on eradicating oral cancer in Eastern Kentucky, enhancing primary care strategies for HIV prevention, educating rural Appalachians on dental health, and improving residency training programs in pediatric dentistry to better serve community needs.
Craig Miller	Oral Diagnosis	Diabetes & Salivary diagnostics	My current emphasis is to refine the current diagnostic paradigm for periodontal disease in T2DM by proposing that the multiplex information contained within a “data-driven biosignature” will offer a significant improvement in personalized patient management, through salivary biomarkers.
Octavio Gonzalez	Periodontology	The role of bacteria-epithelial cell interactions in health and early events of the pathogenesis of periodontal disease	Topic 1: The role of bacteria-epithelial cell interactions in health and early events of the pathogenesis of periodontal disease. Project 1: Role of Notch-1/PLA2-IIA in oral dysbiosis, inflammation, and periodontal disease. This project seeks to validate in vivo the role of a new oral epithelial molecular pathway (identified in our lab) that is specifically activated by an oral pathogen (P. gingivalis) to induce oral dysbiosis and periodontal disease. For this purpose, mice models of P. gingivalis-induced periodontitis will be used to characterize early gingival antimicrobial responses that could be eliciting oral dysbiosis even before periodontal tissue destruction occurs. (Start funds and Pending R01 review/funding). Project 2: Development of small molecules targeting Porphyromonas gingivalis. In collaboration with the College of Pharmacy we have synthesized analogues of the anti-asthma drug zafirlukast with potent and specific antimicrobial effect against the oral pathogen P. gingivalis and better biosafety profile than the parent drug. This project aims to optimize a new generation of zafirlukast analogues and identify the antibacterial mechanisms involved in P. gingivalis killing. (Pending R21 review/ NIDCR funding). Project 3: Modulation of innate epithelial cell responses by oral commensal bacteria. The main goals of this project were to determine chemokine responses of oral epithelial cells in response to oral commensal bacteria and the potential role of miRNAs regulating these responses. (This R03 was funded by NIDCR, currently processing data for publication. These findings would support an R01 grant submission in Spring 2020).
Octavio Gonzalez	Periodontology	Effects of Aging on the innate immune responses of the oral mucosa.	Topic 2: Effects of Aging on the innate immune responses of the oral mucosa. Project 1: Ontogeny of innate immune responses at mucosal surfaces. The main goal of this project was to determine the oral mucosa molecular changes of the innate immune response related to aging during health and periodontitis using the non-human primate model. (We are still analyzing data generated in these R01 studies). Project 2: Ontogenetic Programming of Gingival Tissues and Risk of Periodontitis. This project is a collaborative and multi-disciplinary work that seeks to determine the impact of the characteristics of the early-acquired oral microbiome on gingival innate immune responses that are associated with resistance or susceptibility to periodontal disease. For this, a well established non-human primate model of periodontal disease will be used. (Pending R01 submission/review. Start date if funded July-2020). Project 3: Effect of Aging on gingival gamma-delta T cells. An essential component of the innate immunity at mucosal surfaces, including the oral epithelium, are gamma-delta T cells, which have been shown to change in number and function with aging in several tissues increasing the risk for chronic inflammation. In collaboration with the College of Medicine, this project seeks to determine the effect of aging on the number, cytokine production, and senescence of gamma-delta T cells in gingival tissues using mice models. (Pending review/funding UKCD pilot grant).
Lorri Morford	Craniofacial Genetics; Orthodontics	Craniofacial Genetics	The focus of this research is to (a) gain a better understanding of the genetic varation(s) that are associated with dental agenesis in specific dental fields (i.e., incisors, premolars, molars) within families and in a case/control study format, and (b) explore connections between dental agenesis (DA) early in life and cancer development later in life. (Ongoing collaborations with Dr. Jim Hartsfield at UK and Dr. Ariadne Letra at Univ of Texas Health Sciences in Houston).
		Facial growth variation	The focus of this research is to (a) Study the phenotypic differences in craniofacial shape due to skeletal malocclusion within families and when comparing different ethnic backgrounds, (b) Identify genetic factors which drive skeletal Class II and Class III malocclusion growth patterns in families, and (c) Understand how facial shape and inherited genetic factors play a role in the success of early growth modification (Ongoing collaborations with Dr. Jim Hartsfield at UK, and other investigators from Colombia, Brazil and Italy)
		Chronic Inflammation	(PILOT) The focus of this translational research is to develop a panel of genetic markers that can aid in predicting an individuals' relative risk for developing one or more chronic inflammatory disease in their lifetime (using the genetic of individuals diagnosed with periodontal disease, diabetes and/or Alzheimers Disease).
Dolph Dawson	Periodontology	Periodontal Disease/Diabetes	Collaborative projects with Dr. Miller/Dr. Nikolajczyk investigating biosignatures of periodontal ds/diabetes and obesity.
Debora Scheffel	Prosthodontics Division/ Maxillofacial Prosthetic Rehabilitation	Dental Materials	Studying the role of specific dental materials as preventice for caries development. SDF, composites, sealants etc.
Ian Boggero	Oroacial Pain; Dental Psychology	Psychological Interventions for Chronic Orofacial Pain	Testing and refining brief psychological interventions for orofacial pain; Highlighting the impact of fatigue on chronic pain conditions - does have a forager one profile with detailed information.
Oelisoa Mireille Andriankaja	Center for Oral Health Research	Epidemiology Clinical Research Risk assessment Dental Public Health Big data analysis	Research interest: Study of the potential roles of chronic metabolic diseases/disorders(e.g. obesity, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, or cardiovascular diseases) or infectious diseases (e.g. HPV, COVID-19) on chronic periodontal disease (PD) development or the reverse direction. The studies have ranged from a simple epidemiological PD risk assessment in high risk individuals to study of molecular mechanisms of the association and application of the “bench side” knowledge gained from animal/human models to human clinical research to study the oral-systemic connection.
Oelisoa Mireille Andriankaja	Center for Oral Health Research	Study of Pathways in link between Oral and systemic diseases	NIH K23: "Study of pathways in the link between type 2 diabetes (T2D) and periodontitis/LLIPDS". The LLIPDS study assesses the potential effects of Lipid Lowering agents (LLA) use, such as statins, on a reduced occurrence of chronic PD among Hispanic adult individuals with T2D. The aim is two folds: assess 1) whether LLA can be used to treat PD in T2D individuals and 2) whether LLA use may have local and systemic pleiotropic anti-inflammatory effect on T2D, which may lead to reduced chronic PD. The long-term goal is to find new therapeutic or preventive strategies of chronic PD to improve the quality of life and reduce the burden of chronic inflammatory conditions among high risk individuals with metabolic disturbances.
Mauro Pedrine Santamaria	Center for Oral Health Research	Clinical trials - periodontal and perimplant plastic surgery	To investigate different material and surgical techniques to improve the treatment of mucogingival defects, such as gingival recessions; combined defects (i.e. gingival recession associate with non-carious cervical lesions, perimplant dehiscence defects.
		Wound healing	The main focus of this research is to investigate the oral mucosa wound healing process and understand how the inflammatory process can drive the healing. In addition, translation and clinical studies have been designed and carried out searching for mechanisms and tools to improve oral mucosa healing
		Treatment of Periodontitis	New forms to treat the different grades and stages of periodontitis have been carried out
Howard Roberts	Center for Oral Health Research	Dental Materials	several dental material and characteristics as it assoicates with more durability of dental restorations
Marcia Rojas	Oral Diagnosis, Medicine and Radiology	Orofacial Pain, Temporomandibular Disorders, Orofacial Neuropathic Pain, Trigeminal Neuralgia, Headaches, Dental Management of Sleep-related Breathing Disorders	Satisfaction of Life with Orofacial Pain Disorders, Correlation of Fatigue and it's Interference on Orofacial Pain, Dentists Administering Covid-19 Vaccines, Dental Opioid Prescription Patterns, Etc.
Ingrid Santamaria	Restorative Dentistry	Gingival Recession, Nocarious Cervical Lesions, Operative Dentistry	Research focuses on treating gingival recessions and non-carious lesions using partial restorations combined with modified coronally advanced flaps, evaluating the effectiveness of activated charcoal dental products, and comparing connective tissue grafts with xenogeneic acellular dermal matrices for managing gingival recession.
David Brock	Prosthodontics Division	Restorative Dental Procedures	This series explores advancements in prosthodontics and restorative dentistry, focusing on innovative techniques and materials for improving dental aesthetics and functionality. Case studies highlight effective rehabilitation approaches for various dental conditions

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