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Eastman Institute for Oral Health / Educational Programs / Dental Public Health Residency / Research

Research

Current Programs and Projects

Excellence in Clinical Education and Leadership for Specialty Dental Care (EXCEL)

Funded by a grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and directed by Dr. Sangeeta Gajendra, this program is developing a community-based training model that addresses two critical areas: significantly increasing the dental care in underserved communities and effectively training and expanding the dental workforce to care for people with medically complex conditions and intellectual and developmental disabilities.

One component of the program is a two-year MPH degree/Dental Public Health Residency in collaboration with the URMC Department of Public Health Sciences. This enhanced residency program integrates a Master of Public Health curriculum with clinical rotations, including substantial clinical training in settings dedicated to treating vulnerable populations in the community.

The EXCEL program is also establishing an Oral Health Resource Center to help advance interprofessional education, oral health literacy, and culturally responsive care while addressing social determinants that drive inequities.

A SMILEmobile parked in a parking lot. It is a large vehicle that looks similar to an RV, with a section in the middle that pulls out for more space. The side says "You are going to smile" and has the Eastman Institute for Oral Health logo.SMILEmobile Program

This ongoing program, established at EIOH in 1967, provides comprehensive dental care to school children in the inner-city schools in Rochester. Currently, multiple mobile dental clinics called SMILEmobiles regularly visit 15 different schools, allowing students to access dental care with minimal interruption to their learning. The program also includes permanent clinics in East High and School No. 17, the latter of which serves adults in the community as well as children. Over 39,000 children have been treated in this program to date, and participating schools have reported increased school performance among their students. Recent supporters of this program include the Avantor Foundation and the RCIPA Foundation.

Building Dental Homes for Schoolchildren (BUDHS)

Throughout this 5-year program funded by the NYS Department of Health, children from 17 schools in underserved neighborhoods in the Greater Rochester area will receive dental exams, preventive treatment, and referrals to dental homes. This program visits different schools from the SMILEmobile program, including suburban and rural locations. Over 500 children have been seen in the first 2 years alone.

The shape of a red ribbon, formed by 2 hands and arms painted red.Addressing Dental and Psychiatric Comorbidities: Screening and Referrals of HIV/AIDS Patients

This NIDCR-funded study is a multidisciplinary collaboration with the Departments of Psychiatry, Public Health Sciences, and Biostatistics.

Persons living with HIV/AIDS are understudied and underserved with respect to both dental and mental health services, compared to the general population. Psychiatric and dental comorbidities in this group result in diagnostic complexities, treatment gaps, increased health care costs and poorer outcomes. However, there are no existing studies of co-occurring oral diseases and mental illnesses in this population.

This mixed method study of HIV positive patients involves examining the oral health status at baseline and at six months via patient screenings, clinical examinations with salivary biomarkers, and surveys to screen for any mental illness/conditions and the oral health related quality of life. There is also a qualitative component involving key informant interviews and focus groups with persons living with HIV/AIDS and with HIV clinic program directors and administrators. 

HIVE Mobile Dental Application

The goal of this project is to develop and implement the HIVE mobile dental application to improve oral health literacy, establish a dental care referral system and assist in tobacco cessation among persons living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). The mobile app will provide information about oral hygiene practices and common oral diseases and lesions specific to this population, effects of tobacco use on oral and overall health and resources to quit tobacco use, as well as about Eastman dental clinic locations using Geospatial location technology. This project will also conduct a needs assessment regarding unmet dental needs, tobacco/tobacco produce use, and barriers to tobacco cessation in PLWHA. Support for this project was provided by the Federation Dentaire International Dental Development Fund.

A woman smiles as she brushes the teeth of her young daughter.State Promotion of Activities to Advance Oral Health

This CDC-funded project is a collaboration with the NYS Department of Health, aiming to:

  • Develop and implement of a Water Fluoridation Advisory Group, which will hold quarterly meetings. Dr. Sangeeta Gajendra will serve as public-health dentistry subject matter expert to this group, assisting with establishment of reporting guidelines and checklists, planning approaches to data quality and data sharing, and development of a statewide fluoridation map.
  • Analyze publicly available datasets including BRFSS baseline, to examine dental-related indicators and outcomes among adults with Type 2 diabetes. This analysis will form the basis for a data-to-action plan to be implemented statewide.
  • Plan an expansion of school-based preventive dental programs and school-based health centers throughout the state,  including reviewing school reporting systems such as SEALS and analyzing community-level data surveilling the use of sealants and fluoride varnish across eligible grades and regions.
  • Compile resources for infection prevention and control (IPC), including listing CDC-aligned trainings tailored to school and dental providers, creating a toolkit with checklists and workflows, and developing a standardized template for tracking IPC training completion and logs.

Past Projects

Two people stand at the front of a classroom holding oversized models of teeth. One person also holds a toothbrush and is energetically talking to the classroom.Improving Dental Access with Care Coordination (IDACC)

Initiated through a grant from the Bank of America and support from the Avantor Foundation, this project strengthened the SMILEmobile and BUDHS programs by incorporating a care coordinator. This care coordinator assisted underinsured families with resources to obtain dental insurance and facilitated referrals for children seen in the program, connecting hundreds of children to a dental home and helping many access crucial restorative care in the operating room or under sedation. The care coordinator also conducted oral health promotion presentations in classrooms, attended by 1,230 children from pre-K to 6th grade, educating about oral diseases and prevention, dental hygiene methods, and the importance of visiting a dentist regularly. This project not only helped in improving the oral health of children, but showed that care coordination can be used effectively to improve the efficiency of a school-based program.

SMART-DENT: A System for Monitoring and Referral for Timely Dental Treatment

This project, funded through a grant from the American Association of Dental Public Health Foundation, enhanced the BUDHS program through the creation of a web-based portal with an oral health registry. This portal was developed using REDCap software in collaboration with the Office of Research Information Technology. It provides communication links between school personnel, parents, and the dental team, along with access to oral health educational resources. Key features include appointment tracking, a streamlined referral system for advanced dental care, and automated email reminders for preventive visits. The project was a success, with appointment reminders improving adherence to prevention visits, and care coordination successfully connecting children to dental homes.

A resident stands in front of a research poster.Publications

  • Desai C, Chakraborty B, Desai J, Dankhara N, Gajendra S. (2026) Socio-Economic Factors Predicting Dental-Related Admissions in a Pediatric Population in the United States: Findings from the KID National Database. Cureus (2026) open access: e. doi:10.7759/cureus.
  •  Almirza M, Alvarez D, Barmak AB, Chakraborty B, Gajendra S. Patient perception of their dental treatment during COVID-19 pandemic; (2025); Journal of California Dental Association; Vol 53:1, doi: 10.1080/19424396.2025.2565336
  • Chakraborty B, Wilson FA, Wehbi NK, Gajendra S, Tak HJ. Disparities in Dental Treatments, Expenses, and Sources of Payment Among Adults With Disability in the US. Spec Care Dentist. 2025 Nov-Dec;45(6):e70111. doi: 10.1111/scd.70111.
  • Ghosh S, Chatterjee S, Feng C, Burkhardt J, Gajendra S. Association Between Dental Caries and Unemployment Among U.S. Adults with a History of Illicit Drugs. Dent J (Basel). 2025 Nov 21;13(12):548. doi: 10.3390/dj13120548. 
  • Chakraborty B, Wilson FA, Wehbi NK, Chen LW, Tak HJ. The Impact of Family-Centered Care on Oral Health for Children With Special Health Care Needs. Spec Care Dentist. 2025 Sep-Oct;45(5):e70095. doi: 10.1111/scd.70095.
  • Gajendra S, Psoter W. The Importance of Interprofessional Dental Care in the Community in the United States. JDR Clin Trans Res. 2025 Jul;10(1_suppl):17S-24S. doi: 10.1177/23800844251328677. Epub 2025 Jun 17.
  • Gajendra S, Zusman SP. Should we search for a new paradigm for Dental Public Health? Quintessence Int. 2024 Aug 30;55(7):516-517. doi: 10.3290/j.qi.b5721675.
  • Kakkar M, Barmak AB, Gajendra S. Evaluation of fear, anxiety, and knowledge among dental providers during the COVID 19 pandemic. J Dent Sci. 2022 Oct;17(4):1648-1655. doi: 10.1016/j.jds.2022.03.006. Epub 2022 Mar 31.
  • Bhanat N, McIntosh S, Khanal P, Ghosh S, Gajendra S; Stakeholders’ Perceptions of Barriers and Facilitators for Dental and Mental Health Referrals of HIV/AIDS Clinic Patients; Special Care Dentistry journal; 2022 Aug 24; doi: 10.1111/scd.12769
  • Michelogiannakis M, Gajendra S, Pathagunti SR, Sayers MS, Newton TJ, Zhirou Zhou BS, Feng C, Rossouw EP. Parental and patients’ expectations of orthodontic treatment in University settings; American Journal of Orthodontics & Dentofacial Orthopedics; 2021 Apr;159(4):443-452. doi: 10.1016/j.ajodo.2020.02.009
  • Ye D, Gajendra S, Lawyer G, Jadeja N, Pishey D, Pathagunti S, Lyons J, Veazie P, Watson G, McIntosh S, Rahman I. Inflammatory biomarkers and growth factors in saliva and gingival crevicular fluid of e-cigarette users, cigarette smokers, and dual smokers: A pilot study. J Periodontol. 2020 Oct;91(10):1274-1283. doi: 10.1002/JPER.19-0457. Epub 2020 Mar 16.
  • Javed F, ALHarthi SS, BinShabaib MS, Gajendra S, Romanos GE, Rahman I. Toxicological impact of waterpipe smoking and flavorings in the oral cavity and respiratory system. Inhal Toxicol. 2017 Aug;29(9):389-396. doi: 10.1080/08958378.2017.1384084. Epub 2017 Oct 17.
  • Hanwatkar P, Gajendra S, Veazie P, Karp JM, McIntosh S. Fluoride Varnish: Knowledge, Preferences and Practices of General and Pediatric Dentists. N Y State Dent J. 2017 Mar;83(2):37-42.
  • Ashbrook D, Tejada C, Mehta D, Jiminez A, Mualitharam G, Gajendra S, Tallents R. Bitey: an exploration of tooth click gestures for hands-free user interface control. MobileHCI 2016- Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services. 2016 Sep 6; 158-169. doi: 10.1145/2935334.2935389
  • Telleen S, Rhee Kim YO, Chavez N, Barrett RE, Hall W, Gajendra S. Access to oral health services for urban low-income Latino children: social ecological influences. J Public Health Dent. 2012 Winter;72(1):8-18. doi: 10.1111/j.1752-7325.2011.00275.x. Epub 2011 Aug 19.
  • Gajendra S, Ossip DJ, Panzer RJ, McIntosh S. Implementing a Smoke-free Campus: a Medical Center initiative. J Community Health. 2011 Aug;36(4):684-92. doi: 10.1007/s10900-011-9361-y.