The Institutional Dentist Scientist Training Program of the University of Washington currently supports Douglas S. Ramsay, DMD, in his pursuit of a Ph.D. in experimental psychology. His interests range from the study of anxiety disorders (particularly as related to dental fear) to the effectiveness of drugs used in dental practice. Dr. Ramsay's thesis research is based upon the hypothesis that when drugs cause biological effects, the body responds by activating physiological reflexes or behaviors to restore pre-drug conditions. This hypothesis can be extended to account for drug tolerance. Drug tolerance occurs when a drug causes less effect over repeated usage. The hypothesis is that when a person anticipates receiving a drug(s) he makes a learning response which counters the drug's effects and thereby contributes to tolerance. Therefore, drug tolerance is a function of both what the drug does to the body and, more importantly what body does in response. Dr. Ramsay is applying various predictions of the hypothesis to the study of the pain- and anxiety-relieving properties of nitrous oxide, a drug commonly used in dental practice. His hypothesis is that when nitrous oxide is continuously administered, bodily responses which enhance pain sensitivity may be activated and thereby reduce its analgesic efficacy. For his dissertation, Dr. Ramsay is learning the psychophysics of pain assessment from a collaboration with a group at the Oregon Health Sciences School of Dentistry, and the fundamentals of tolerance and learning theory here at the University of Washington. Ultimately, understanding the body's capability of modulating pain sensitivity may lead to improved methods in the pharmacological management of pain.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Dental & Craniofacial Research (NIDCR)
Type
Unknown (K16)
Project #
3K16DE000161-05S3
Application #
3088725
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (SRC)
Project Start
1985-08-01
Project End
1994-06-30
Budget Start
1989-07-01
Budget End
1993-06-30
Support Year
5
Fiscal Year
1992
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Washington
Department
Type
Schools of Dentistry
DUNS #
135646524
City
Seattle
State
WA
Country
United States
Zip Code
98195
Fischer, Dena J (2006) The association of temporomandibular disorder pain with history of head and neck injury in adolescents. J Orofac Pain 20:191-8
Fischer, Dena J; Epstein, Joel B; Morton Jr, Thomas H et al. (2005) Reliability of histologic diagnosis of clinically normal intraoral tissue adjacent to clinically suspicious lesions in former upper aerodigestive tract cancer patients. Oral Oncol 41:489-96
Fischer, Dena J; Epstein, Joel B; Morton, Thomas H et al. (2004) Interobserver reliability in the histopathologic diagnosis of oral pre-malignant and malignant lesions. J Oral Pathol Med 33:65-70
Byers, M R; Lin, K J Yoon (2003) Patterns of fluoro-gold entry into rat molar enamel, dentin, and pulp. J Dent Res 82:312-7
Jurevic, Richard J; Bai, Mai; Chadwick, Robert B et al. (2003) Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in human beta-defensin 1: high-throughput SNP assays and association with Candida carriage in type I diabetics and nondiabetic controls. J Clin Microbiol 41:90-6
Jurevic, R J; Chrisman, P; Mancl, L et al. (2002) Single-nucleotide polymorphisms and haplotype analysis in beta-defensin genes in different ethnic populations. Genet Test 6:261-9
Presland, Richard B; Jurevic, Richard J (2002) Making sense of the epithelial barrier: what molecular biology and genetics tell us about the functions of oral mucosal and epidermal tissues. J Dent Educ 66:564-74
Drangsholt, M T (1998) A new causal model of dental diseases associated with endocarditis. Ann Periodontol 3:184-96
Lee, P P; Linial, M L (1995) Inhibition of wild-type HIV-1 virus production by a matrix deficient Gag mutant. Virology 208:808-11
Lee, P P; Linial, M L (1994) Efficient particle formation can occur if the matrix domain of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 Gag is substituted by a myristylation signal. J Virol 68:6644-54

Showing the most recent 10 out of 13 publications