Page 34 - Dentistry Magazine 2021

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DENTISTRY 2021
Key Research Takeaways
• A diagnostic tool for TMD created in 2014 by Eric Schiffman, DDS, was cited nearly 300 times in 2020.
• The tool replaces older diagnostic criteria used mainly in research settings, and seeks to examine the psychological, behavioral and social factors involved in TMD pain.
• Next steps include further simplifying the tool and increasing its use in clinical settings, as well as a look at the causes and potential treatments for TMD pain.
The authors of the new DC/TMD hope it will provide “a common language for clinicians, while providing the researcher with the methods for valid phenotyping of their subjects” (Schiffman et al.). NIH has since adopted DC/TMD as the official diagnostic criteria for use when researching TMD.
Since the original publication of the piece, Schiffman and his colleagues have continued exploring ways to make the tool better, including simplifying it even further for clinical use. “This tool isn’t the end,” Schiffman explained.
“The Axis I diagnostic criteria is based on signs and symptoms. The next step is to create diagnostic criteria based on mechanism and etiology, which would provide further insight into the causes of TMD, as well as more targeted treatments,” he continued.
Schiffman is proud of the criteria’s success and finds it to be a reminder of the importance of a research team. “I’m grateful for everyone who has supported me: the NIDCR, the people on the paper, and people in my research team who have worked with me on this directly and indirectly.”
He sees research like an orchestra, where he’s the direc- tor: “If I don’t have any players, there is no music. I can’t take the credit for this alone, but it makes me pleased that we’ve done some good work and have been able to advance the field.”
In looking to what can come next, Schiffman is reminded of his favorite quote from T.M. Tomlinson: “In months of travel, it is the horizon which the traveler cannot reach.”
Schiffman knows that he won’t reach the horizon of TMD alone. “I’m just a link in this continuation, and this research will go on for a long time,” he said.
“Someday, I’ll be a footnote. But I’ll be happy that what we did was able to move science ahead, and ultimate- ly—I hope—allow patients with TMD to have a successful way of understanding and managing their condition and improving their quality of life.”
Expanding the scope of trauma care through teledentistry
A CGHSR Global Health Seed fund, along with two other recent grant awards, will
propel a teledentistry effort focused on identifying and treating dental trauma.
Boyen Huang, DDS, MHA, PhD, joined the School
of Dentistry in 2020 as an associate professor in the Division of Dental Public Health after 18 years as a faculty member in Australia. He brings with him experience in pediatric dentistry, outreach and telehealth. In the short time that he has been in the United States, Huang has received three grant awards: a $20,000 IADR Regional Development Program funding award, $6,000 from
the Minnesota Masonic Charities, and most recently,
a Center for Global Health and Social Responsibility Global Health Seed award of $25,000.
The three grants will support Huang’s development of an app called Teledental, conceived in partnership with an Australian government agency to triage dental trauma. It started as a way of diagnosing caries virtually, but quickly shifted toward use in emergency rooms.
“When you experience a trauma, most of the time, you are sent to the emergency room,” Huang explained. “But the nurse or doctor may not be equipped with dental knowledge, and might not know how to manage a dental emergency. Since not every hospital has a dentist or dental surgeon, the app provides immediate communication and a consultation.”