Patients Needed The NIH study that involves the Dental School and Johns Hopkins Hospital is entering its fourth year of a 5-year study. Patients with TMD are still needed. All treatment is free and patients are compensated. Please see Edward Grace, DDS, MA, in The Brotman Facial Pain Center on the second floor, for information. Patients may call Bernadette Guthrie, the project coordinator, directly at 443-668-6152. Cover Article Sharon M. Gordon, DDS, MPH, PhD, and Raymond A. Dionne, DDS, PhD, head of the Pain and Neurosensory Mechanisms Branch, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research at the National Institutes of Health, co-authored the cover article in the November issue of the Journal of the American Dental Association, "The Integration of Clinical Research into Dental Therapeutics: The Role of the Astute Clinician." Press Releases “A Model for Detecting Tobacco-Related Oral Diseases:
The Role of Physician Assistants” The Department of Health Promotion and Policy, Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, Dental School, University of Maryland, was awarded a grant to establish a one year demonstration project to train physician assistants to provide oral health assessments and collect oral health risk factor information when providing comprehensive assessments to their patients. The target population is low income, uninsured and underinsured Marylanders. The principal investigator is Janet Yellowitz, DMD, MPH. The grant is supported by the University of Maryland Statewide Health Network Grant through the Maryland Cigarette Restitution Funds. Currently, the best available tool for early detection is an oral health screening examination by a trained clinician, but there are no systems in place to ensure the provision of routine oral cancer examinations. Health professionals often assume that their patients see dentists on a regular basis; however, in 1996, only 14% of Maryland adults reported having an oral cancer exam, with adults having fewer exams than younger adults. Physician assistants were selected to participate in this project, because they bridge the gap between medical and dental health care and, traditionally, serve as extensions for physicians in providing health care. A recently completed survey of the knowledge, opinions and practices of Maryland physician assistants, regarding tobacco use and oral health, indicated that the level of knowledge about oral health and the relationship of tobacco use and oral health for this group was low. Therefore, a training program was developed to meet their needs. Fifteen physician assistants working in community-based health centers, clinics and offices have been recruited for the project. They are being trained to include oral health screening examinations when providing comprehensive health examination. Their patients will receive an oral screening, and those with abnormal findings will be advised about the need for follow-up evaluation and testing. The patients will be asked to complete a short data form. Data collected from the patients will include risk factor characteristics, numbers and types of abnormal findings, numbers of cancers detected, follow-up of abnormal findings, and follow-up of detected cancers. The success of the project will be judged by the number of health examinations completed by the practitioners, value of the training sessions, changes in knowledge about tobacco use and oral health before and after the educational program, ability of the physician assistants to collect information on abnormal findings and make appropriate referrals and potential for detecting oral health conditions at earlier stages through the screening process that is being tested. For more information about the project or the grant, please call Susan Coller, program manager, at 6.3051 or by email at SNC001@dental.umaryland.edu.
******** Tobacco Intervention Grant Awarded to University of Maryland Dental School
"Maryland Dental Hygienists Opinions and Attitudes Regarding Tobacco Use Prevention in Child and Adolescent Patients" The Department of Health Promotion and Policy, Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, Dental School, University of Maryland, was awarded a grant to survey dental hygienists in Maryland regarding their role in tobacco intervention and cessation among their child and adolescent patients. The principal investigator on the grant is Harold S. Goodman, DMD, MPH. The grant is supported by the University of Maryland, Maryland Statewide Health Network through the Maryland Cigarette Restitution Funds. A very brief, anonymous mail survey questionnaire will be mailed in mid-September to a random sample of Maryland licensed dental hygienists in the state. The hygienists will be encouraged to complete the questionnaire and return it in a prepaid envelope. The data collected in this study will provide the direction for developing and pilot testing educational interventions for dental hygienists and other dental professionals. Tobacco use among children and adolescents in the United States is a serious threat to public health. In 2000, the Surgeon General reported that nearly 30 percent of high school senior girls and 33 percent of high school senior boys reported smoking within the past 30.days. Tobacco use by children and adolescents in Maryland also is very high. According to the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, by 12th grade, approximately one in four Maryland children will be regularly smoking a half pack of cigarettes or more a day. Similar patterns exist with regard to spit (smokeless tobacco). Tobacco use is also the major risk factor for many serious diseases, including oral cancer. Although those at highest risk for oral cancer ware individuals over 40 years of age, addictive tobacco habits often begin in childhood and adolescence. As a result of high tobacco use and other factors, Maryland has one of the highest oral cancer death rates in the United States and the rate of new cases of oral cancer is higher than the national average. For more information about the project, please contact Susan Coller, program manager, at 410.706.3051 or by email at SNC001@dental.umaryland.edu | 
