The Minority Oral Health Research Center is a collaborative effort between faculty researchers and clinicians at the UCLA School of Dentistry, and Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science. The Center is administratively centered at UCLA while most of the research activity will occur at extramural sites; Drew and its associated clinical facilities, and other minority serving clinics of UCLA. UCLA/Drew Center objectives are: 1) to promote and conduct research into the oral health status of minority groups, and investigate its relationship to health status; and 2) to develop a training program for minority faculty and clinicians to stimulate the advancement of both research and oral health service within minority populations. One major focus is the development and testing of valid research methodologies for the investigation of oral health. The second focus is the study of patients exposed to accidental or intentional orofacial trauma. These research approaches utilize the social, basic, and health sciences disciplines, reflecting the complexity within minority populations, and the necessity for using various methodologies for comprehensive investigation. Three core research projects are being proposed: 1) Evaluation of orofacial trauma treatment protocols at King Hospital; 20 Investigation of the oral health status of African-American and Hispanic populations and its relationship to general health status focusing on patients with orofacial trauma; and 3) Ethnographic study of the care-seeking beliefs and behaviors of minority communities. A training program to develop minority researchers is an essential component of this Center proposal. This program will take two forms in which faculty and residents of Drew will participate; 1) an individualized institutional core-curriculum training program at UCLA; and 2) a mentorship program involving Drew and UCLA faculty in collaborative research projects. The goal of the program is to provide training to minority group clinicians who will actively participate in collaborative or independent research after the training. Preliminary research projects are being developed for future study; the investigation of the determinants of oral health status in elderly minority Americans; the clinical and microbiological investigation of periodontal disease in the Hispanic population in Los Angeles; genetic predisposition to abnormal healing and social predisposition to injury; baby bottle tooth decay and its implication for minority populations; development of an orofacial trauma disability index to be utilized by dental providers; the use of alternative delivery systems for supplemental nutrition in oral and maxillofacial surgery patients; and the study of localized juvenile periodontitis and neutrophil dysfunction in minority populations. Each of the research projects, and the training program will contribute to the goal of integrating comprehensive research programs into minority oral health services, thereby contributing to the health promotion and disease prevention objectives of """"""""Healthy People 2000""""""""
| Spolsky, Vladimir W; Marcus, Marvin; Der-Martirosian, Claudia et al. (2012) Oral health status and the epidemiologic paradox within Latino immigrant groups. BMC Oral Health 12:39 |
