Understanding the Underserved
Federal Grant to Focus on Oral Health Disparities

On January 25, the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) School of Dental Medicine received a $1.47 million grant from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) to work with West Virginia University (WVU) in helping to determine the causes of oral health disparities in an underserved population.

This grant follows a 2003 contribution of $6.1 million from NIDCR to Pitt and WVU, which was allocated for research to determine the role genetics and other family factors play in contributing to the disproportionately poor oral health in Webster and Nicholas counties in West Virginia, the heart of Appalachia.

The latest grant will expand the scope of research geographically to the counties of Bradford and Burgettstown in rural Pennsylvania and conceptually to address how environmental and behavioral factors might also affect oral health.

As identified by the Surgeon General’s 2000 report on oral health, Oral Health in America, there are widespread disparities in oral health care in the United States. Not only are many Americans uninformed about the importance of oral health care, but access to oral health services are also not made available in all areas of the United States.

Mary L. Marazita, PhD, associate dean for research and head of the division of oral biology at Pitt’s School of Dental Medicine and professor of human genetics at Pitt’s Graduate School of Public Health, hopes that by expanding the project into other rural areas, as well as adding behavioral, microbiological, and environmental criteria to the study, researchers will find a large number of risk factors that cause oral health disparities in these underserved regions. This, she believes, will allow the health care system to better treat this population and develop interventions to assist in reducing the disparity.