SPRING 2020 VOL. 21 NO. 1 21 NO. VOL. SPRING 2020 ADVANCING DENTISTRY, TRANSFORMING LIVESTM The Evolution of Oral Health Care for People with Disabilities Connections. We know the oral health/systemic health connection. We value the faculty/student success connection. We progress with the research innovation/public health connection. We thrive on the Alumni/College connection. Your support helps our clinicians, educators, and researchers deliver the stellar results that make NYU Dentistry a global leader, at the forefront of dentistry. There are many ways to stay connected with classmates and faculty, and to support NYU Dentistry: • Mentor a student, attend a career brunch, or host a student shadowing day at your practice. • Join the Alumni Association, make an impact, and share your ideas. • Support our students by making a donation to the College’s Annual Fund or to another area that is most meaningful to you. To make a gift online, please visit dental.nyu.edu/donate. For more information, please contact Ryan St. Germain at 212.998.9883, or at [email protected]. Thank you for your generosity. MESSAGE FROM THE HERMAN ROBERT FOX DEAN his past year has been an and behaviorally complex patients. also providing them with the oppor- exciting one at the College, In addition to expanding access to tunity to learn how to run a dental beginning with the open- coordinated healthcare services for practice in a real-world environment. ing in February 2019 of the patients, it will provide a unique in- In addition to stories about these NYU Dentistry Oral Health terprofessional education opportunity initiatives, this issue of Global Health TCenter for People with Disabilities by making medical care come alive Nexus brings news of the recruitment (OHCPD). In addition to address- for dental students. This is important of two faculty superstars — Dr. Nigel ing a major public health challenge for future dentists because the chal- Bunnett, an internationally known by redefining dental care for dis- lenge is not how to manage the un- expert on the mechanisms of pain, abled individuals, we are offering a derlying medical disorder, but rather itch, and neurogenic inflammation, much-needed training opportunity how dental care must be modified in to chair the Department of Basic for our students, who will have the light of underlying disease. Science and Craniofacial Biology, benefit of learning to practice with We are also piloting a new dental and Dr. André Ritter, a distinguished competence, confidence, and compas- education model as the prelude to dental educator, clinician, researcher, sion in providing quality dental care opening a new patient care facility and executive administrator, to chair for this population. Dental students, in Downtown Brooklyn’s City Point the Department of Cariology and like many dentists, often have a fun- in early 2020. Designed to create en- Comprehensive Care. damental fear of treating people with hanced educational and patient care And we highlight the robust grants disabilities. By giving our students the learning opportunities for students, as and philanthropy that are supporting skills needed to treat disabled people, well as to bring high quality, low-cost our patient care and research pro- we are preparing them to welcome all dental care to residents of Brooklyn grams, including the largest individ- patients when they enter practice. and the surrounding area, the pro- ual gift in the College’s history — a Another innovation in the way gram is based on a mentor-protégé nearly $7 million bequest from Dr. we educate our students is coming model in which a professor-practi- Milton Friedman, ’55, which will be soon with the opening of a federally tioner mentors a very small group of used to advance faculty recruitment, qualified health center operated by student protégés or associates. The research, and special projects. Metro Community Health Centers, program emphasizes collaborative These stories and others remind us Inc. (MCHC). We have built a general efforts and synergies among small how fortunate we are as a community medical clinic — to be staffed by teams of highly-motivated students, to have so many exceptional people physicians from MCHC — within faculty, and support personnel, which and innovative programs that are the dental school, which will offer results in increased student learning enabling us to advance dentistry and primary and specialty medical care as and productivity. Through the Brook- transform lives. well as behavioral health services to lyn expansion, we are reimagining Enjoy the issue. primarily low-income and under- dental education by giving students served patients, including medically even more clinical experience, while Charles N. Bertolami, DDS, DMedSc Herman Robert Fox Dean SPRING 2020 1 Global Health Nexus Spring 2020 Vol. 21, No. 1 Elyse Bloom Editor-in-Chief Associate Dean for Communications and Public Affairs CONTENTS Jean Giordano Art Direction Director of Communications and Public Affairs Molly Washburn Assistant Managing Editor, Design Assistant Assistant Director of Communications and Public Affairs 4 34 Charles N. Bertolami Herman Robert Fox Dean 1 Message from the Herman Robert Fox Dean Rachel Harrison Charles N. Bertolami, DDS, DMedSc Stephanie Susnjara Contributing Writers 4 Feature: The Evolution of Oral Health Care for People with Disabilities Leo Sorel Improving Preventive Oral Care for New Yorkers with Disabilities • 6 Principal Photography Howard A. Zucker, MD, JD People with Disabilities and Oral Health Providers: Island Photography The Importance of Becoming Partners in Health Care Innovation • 8 Saskia Kahn Marco Damiani Jon Roemer Additional Photography A Dental Home for Patients with Epilepsy • 14 Orrin Devinksy, MD, and Danielle Boyce, MPH Visit the NYU College of Dentistry online. The NYU Langone Dysautonomia Center and the NYU Dentistry Oral Health Center for People with Disabilities: General information: Working to Improve the Lives of Our Patients • 16 Horacio Kaufmann, MD, PhD http://dental.nyu.edu Q&A with Dr. Ronald Kosinski • 20 Oral cancer information: www.nyuoralcancer.org 24 NYU Dentistry Brooklyn Patient Care 26 Putting A New Dental Education Model to the Test 31 Metro Community Health Centers to Open New Health Center at NYU Dentistry 32 Scenes from Our Campus Global Health Nexus is produced in part through the generous support of the late Leonard Block, Mrs. Adele Block, and Richard and Peggy Danziger. Copyright © March 2020, New York University. The information in this publication is the exclusive property of New York University and may not be reproduced or distributed without prior consent. ISSN 1945 - 063X 24 2 GLOBAL HEALTH NEXUS “We can do better. ADVANCING DENTISTRY, TRANSFORMING LIVES The Evolution of Oral Health Care for We must do better.” People with Disabilities — Helen Keller 4 52 80 91 38 Research in Focus 68 Recruiting the Best Annual Research Days • 38 72 Promoting Our Own Nanoparticle Drug Delivery Provides Pain Relief and More Effective 76 NYU Dentistry in the News Opioid Alternative in Animal Study • 42 78 Celebrating Our Community NYU Dentistry Study Describes Cellular Mechanisms Leading to Graduation 2019 • 78 Enamel Deficiency • 44 Saturday Academy Aims to Diversify Dentistry • 80 Dr. Brian Schmidt Appointed Chair of NIH’s Somatosensory and Pain Systems Study Section • 45 Mentors Matter: A Conversation with Akneia Peartree, DACP ’18 • 82 Fungal Invasion of Pancreas Creates Cancer Risk • 46 More than 200 NYC Youth in Foster Care Now Have Healthier Smiles Thanks to NYU Dentistry/ACS Partnership • 84 Technology Simultaneously Measures 71 Elements in Water, Other Liquids • 48 NYU Dentistry Launches Advanced Standing Track in Dental Hygiene • 85 Patients with Facial Pain Report Most Benefit from Self-care Techniques • 50 New Issue of JADE Online Now • 85 Austin Le, ’20, Coauthors Four Studies on Drug Use Among Young Four Classic Greek Texts Added to Rare Book Library Holdings • 86 Adults • 51 Honorable Mentions: Drs. Stuart Hirsch, Nicola Partridge, Why Your Face Looks Different From a Chimp’s • 52 Chad Gehani, Leila Jahangiri, Analia Veitz-Keenan, Ashok Soni, A. Ross Kerr, Eugenia Mejia • 88 Update on Haptic Technology for Periodontal Education: An NYU Dentistry – NYU Abu Dhabi Collaboration • 54 Conference Weighs Impact of E-Cigarettes While Teens Continue to Vape • 90 56 Grants & Philanthropy Friendship, Stewardship, and Love of Alma Mater • 56 91 Global Partners in Health UN Side Event Hosted by NYU and The Lancet Calls for Oral Health Dean’s Strategic Advisory Council • 58 To Be Integrated into Universal Health Coverage • 91 Drs. Nigel Bunnett and Brian Schmidt: Improving Pain Medications • 60 NYU Dentistry/Henry Schein Cares Global Student Outreach Program Drs. Donna Albertson and Brian Schmidt: Targeting a Gene Linked to 2018–2019 • 94 Oral Cancer • 61 100 Congratulations To... Dr. David Levy: Seeking a Clue Toward a Cure for HIV Infection • 62 114 Focus on Alumni Dr. Deepak Saxena: Toward Improved Immunotherapy • 63 115 In Remembrance Dr. Shulamite Huang: Improving Children's Access to Dental Honor Roll of Donors Services • 64 116 Dr. Lorel Burns: Strategies Vs. Outcomes • 64 Dr. Timothy Bromage: A New Perspective on Science • 65 Dr. Nadège Gouignard: Plumbing Mysteries of the Neural Crest • 66 Dr. Victoria Raveis: Addressing Inequities • 66 Drs. Xin Li and Deepak Saxena: Preventing Periodontal Bone Loss • 67 26 SPRING 2020 3 THE EVOLUTION OF ORAL HEALTH CARE FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES Since opening in early 2019, the NYU Dentistry Oral Health Center for People with Disabilities (OHCPD) has been addressing a major public health need for people whose disabilities or medical conditions prevent them from receiving care in a conventional dental setting. In the pages that follow, experts in the field of health care for people with disabilities share their perspectives on the need for improved access to dental care for this population and on the promise that the OHCPD holds for redefining the way care is delivered. 4 GLOBAL HEALTH NEXUS SPRING 2020 5 Improving Preventive Oral Care for New Yorkers with Disabilities by Howard A.