Dorota T Kopycka-Kedzierawski

• Professor at University of Rochester Medical Center

Objective To examine the social determinants of early childhood caries (ECC), one of the greatest public health risks affecting children, and examine alternative pathways of influence. Methods A physically healthy, socio-demographically high-risk sample of initially caries-free children, aged 1–4 years, was prospectively studied for 2 years. At 6-...

Background Given the prevalence of mental health concerns, dentists have an opportunity to provide mental health screenings to enhance overall patient care. The purpose of this study is to summarize and discuss the characteristics of mental health curricula related to patient care in accredited dental schools. Methods We identified accredited pred...

In April 2024, the University of Rochester Eastman Institute for Oral Health (EIOH) hosted an inaugural Cariology Conference entitled “Past, Present & Future of Cariology.” This inaugural conference focused primarily on early childhood caries (ECC). Invited talks covered multidisciplinary topics, including microbial pathways, perinatal approaches,...

Background Cigarette smoking has major detrimental effects on oral health. Tobacco interventions in dental settings are effective, but rarely delivered. The American Dental Hygienists Association recommends that oral health providers: Ask patients about tobacco use, Advise quitting tobacco use, and Refer to state quitlines (Ask-Advise-Refer; AAR)....

Introduction The increasing interest in teledentistry since the COVID-19 pandemic warrants an evaluation of dentists’ willingness to adopt it. This study aimed to develop a questionnaire to assess dentist’s intention to use teledentistry and the associated factors. Methods A literature search was used to identify items for the questionnaire. The U...

Background Implementing the Age‐Friendly Health System (AFHS) framework into dental care provides a significant opportunity to link oral health to healthy aging. This project aimed to implement the AFHS 4Ms (what matters, medications, mentation, and mobility) in the provision of oral health care. This article describes the planning, integration, tr...

Introduction This study aimed to identify social, psychological, and contextual factors that influenced attendance at routine oral health visits in a cohort of 189 preschool children who were followed over a 2-year period. Methods Generalized estimating equation was used to examine the association between clinic attendance and the predictors. ORs...

Objectives Dental practices can have additional positive impacts on public health by implementing mental health screening and referral to treatment in dental care workflows. In this study, we examined how dental practices identify and address adult patient mental health concerns, attitudes about implementing mental health screening and referral, an...

Background Cigarette smoking has major detrimental effects on oral health. Tobacco interventions in dental settings are effective, but rarely delivered. The American Dental Hygienists Association recommends that oral health providers: Ask patients about tobacco use, Advise quitting tobacco use, and Refer to state quitlines (Ask-Advise-Refer; AAR)....

Objectives Cigarette smoking negatively affects oral health. Nicotine replacement therapies (NRT; e.g. nicotine patch or lozenge) and brief interventions (e.g. Ask‐Advise‐Refer; AAR) can improve cessation outcomes but are underutilized. NRT sampling (NRTS) increases NRT utilization by providing patients with samples of NRT as part of routine health...

Background: Amid the COVID-19 pandemic and other possible future infectious disease pandemics, dentistry needs to consider modified dental examination regimens that render quality care and ensure the safety of patients and dental health care personnel (DHCP). Objective: This study aims to assess the acceptance and usability of an innovative mDen...

Objectives: Our aims are to describe the characteristics of dentists and dental practices, members of the US National Dental practice-based research network (PBRN) in the United States, and determine how often these dentists provide specific dental procedures. Methods: Dentists completed a questionnaire when they enrolled in the Network about th...

Pregnancy initiates a temporary transition in the maternal physiological state, with a shift in the oral microbiome and a potential increase in frequency of oral diseases. The risk of oral disease is higher among populations of Hispanic and Black women and those with lower socioeconomic status (low SES), demonstrating a need for intervention within...

BACKGROUND Amid the COVID-19 pandemic and other possible future infectious disease pandemics, dentistry needs to consider modified dental examination regimens that render quality care and ensure the safety of patients and dental health care personnel (DHCP). OBJECTIVE This study aims to assess the acceptance and usability of an innovative mDentist...

Purpose Tele-medicine has been an emerging trend over the past few years and has seen an exponential rise due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of the present study was to determine the accuracy of planned oral surgery treatment for patients seen initially by telemedicine in the department of oral and maxillofacial surgery during the pandemic....

Introduction: Early childhood caries (ECC) is a complex oral disease that is prevalent in US children. Objectives: The purpose of this 2-y prospective cohort study was to examine baseline and time-dependent risk factors for ECC onset in initially caries-free preschool children. Methods: A cohort of 189 initially caries-free children aged 1 to...

Objectives To describe treatment and monitoring outcomes of posterior teeth with cracks at baseline followed in the National Dental Practice-Based Research Network for up to three years. Materials and methods Two hundred and nine dentists enrolled a convenience sample of 2,858 patients, each with a posterior tooth with at least one visible crack a...

Objective Cracked teeth may be associated with pain, especially biting pain, and to a lesser degree cold and spontaneous pain. Described are how commonly these pains remain constant, develop, or resolve over time, none of which have been well-described, especially among untreated cracked teeth. Methods Cracked teeth from the Cracked Tooth Registry...

Dental care, though critical, is not accessible for the rural population. Remote dental units can address the gap in access by providing basic services to rural areas, but their economic viability is not clearly established. In this research, we explore the economics of a major hospital operating a remote unit in a distant rural area. Specifically,...

Introduction Older adults are more susceptible to a common respiratory infection: pneumonia. Nearly 1 million older adults per year are hospitalized for community-acquired pneumonia in the United States. Objective To examine whether wearing removable dentures are associated with an increased risk of pneumonia incidence in a geriatric population....

Background: Amid COVID-19, and other possible future infectious disease pandemics, dentistry needs to consider modified dental examination regimens that render quality care, are cost effective, and ensure the safety of patients and the Dental Health Care Personnel (DHCP). Traditional dental examinations, more than 300 million per year in the US, r...

Background Teledentistry is used in many countries to provide oral health care services. However, using teledentistry to provide oral health care services for older adults is not well documented. This knowledge gap needs to be addressed, especially when accessing a dental clinic is not possible and teledentistry might be the only way for many older...

Objective : Salivary glands are among the most sensitive target organs of medications with anticholinergic (AC) properties, interrupting the neural stimulation of saliva secretion and reducing saliva flow. Hyposalivation results in dry mouth, leading to dental caries, intraoral infection, orofacial pain, problems with speaking and swallowing, and d...

Introduction Early childhood caries (ECC) is a complex, multifactorial oral disease that is a major public health concern because it is prevalent, profoundly alters a child’s quality of life, is difficult to treat effectively, and has a distressing tendency to recur following treatment. Objectives The purpose of the study was to examine social, ps...

As the most common chronic disease in preschool children in the United States, early childhood caries (ECC) has a profound impact on a child’s quality of life, represents a tremendous human and economic burden to society, and disproportionately affects those living in poverty. Caries risk assessment (CRA) is a critical component of ECC management,...

Background The authors of this practice-based study estimated the risk of experiencing tooth fractures and crack progression over 3 years and correlated baseline patient-, tooth-, and crack-level characteristics with these outcomes. Methods Two-hundred-and-nine National Dental Practice-Based Research Network dentists enrolled a convenience sample...

Background Data on barriers and facilitators to prenatal oral health care among low-income US women are lacking. The objective of this study was to understand barriers/facilitators and patient-centered mitigation strategies related to the use of prenatal oral health care among underserved US women. Methods We used community-based participatory res...

Objectives: To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess whether individuals with nonsyndromic orofacial clefts (OCs) display a higher frequency of dental anomalies (DAs) when compared with individuals without OCs. Methods: A literature search of indexed databases (PubMed, Cochrane, Web of Science, Embase, Scopus, and LILACS) was c...

Background: Data on barriers and facilitators to prenatal oral health care among low-income US women are lacking. The objective of this study was to understand barriers/facilitators and patient-centered mitigation strategies related to use of prenatal oral health care among underserved US women. Methods: We used community-based participatory resear...

Objectives: Data on barriers and facilitators to prenatal oral health care among low-income US women are lacking. The objective of this study was to understand barriers/facilitators and patient-centered mitigation strategies related to use of prenatal oral health care among underserved US women. Methods: We used community-based participatory resear...

Background: Few published reports have presented concordance between treatment choices selected by dentists in hypothetical clinical scenarios and treatment choices made by the same dentists in actual clinical practice. The aim of the current cross-sectional study, conducted within the Management of Dental Hypersensitivity (MDH) study, was to asse...

Aim: Our objectives were to describe the approach used in the National Dental Practice-Based Research Network to capture patient-reported outcomes and to compare electronic and paper modes of data capture in a specific network study. Methods: This was a prospective, multicenter cohort study of 1862 patients with dentin hypersensitivity. Patient-...

Streptococcus mutans is a well-known cause of dental caries, due to its acidogenicity, aciduricity, and ability to synthesize exopolysaccharides in dental plaques. Intriguingly, not all children who carry S. mutans manifest caries, even with similar characteristics in oral hygiene, diet, and other environmental factors. This phenomenon suggests tha...

Preterm and low birth weight infants are at greater risk for mortality and a variety of health and developmental problems. Data from the Finger Lakes Perinatal Data System database on 316,956 deliveries occurring between 2004–2014 and pregnancy outcomes were analyzed to assess the association of periodontal (gum) disease with depression, other mate...

Background Medical professionals have access to a broad range of resources to address clinical information needs. While much attention is given to new sources of data such as those available on the internet, it is less clear how clinicians choose between peer-reviewed research literature and other publication-based sources. This analysis distinguis...

Despite the advancement of early childhood caries (ECC) prediction and treatment, ECC remains a significant public health burden in need of more effective preventive strategies. Pregnancy is an ideal period to promote ECC prevention given the profound influence of maternal oral health and behaviors on children's oral health. However, studies have s...

Aim Of this prospective cohort study was to assess early childhood caries (ECC) incidence and, based on the data, build a model that not only predicts future ECC onset in clinically caries-free children, but also is prognostic for children with ECC. Methods ECC incidence was assessed at the 12-month follow-up examination on a cohort of 291 prescho...

Dental caries is the most prevalent infectious disease among US children. National surveys have shown that poor and minority-group children are not only disproportionately affected by dental caries but also have limited access to oral health care. Following successful exploratory applications of both synchronous and asynchronous models at the Eastm...

Candida albicans is an opportunistic fungal organism frequently detected in the oral cavity of children with severe early childhood caries (S-ECC). Previous studies suggested the cariogenic potential of C. albicans, in vitro and in vivo, and further demonstrated its synergistic interactions with Streptococcus mutans. In combination, the 2 organisms...

Dentinal hypersensitivity (DH) can have a significant impact on oral health and functioning, and it is a clinical symptom commonly managed by dentists during routine clinical practice. DH symptoms are typically elicited by otherwise innocuous, nonpainful stimuli applied to exposed dentin (e.g., tactile stimuli, warming or cooling temperatures or ai...

Oral Candida albicans has been detected in children with early childhood caries (ECC) and has demonstrated cariogenic traits in animal models of the disease. Conversely, other studies found no positive correlation between C. albicans and caries experience in children, while suggesting it may have protective effects as a commensal organism. Thus, th...

Dentinal hypersensitivity (DH) can have a significant impact on oral health and functioning, and it is a clinical symptom commonly managed by dentists during routine clinical practice. DH symptoms are typically elicited by otherwise innocuous, nonpainful stimuli applied to exposed dentin (e.g., tactile stimuli, warming or cooling temperatures or ai...

Background Dentin hypersensitivity (DH) is a condition commonly encountered in clinical dental practice. The authors conduct a study to identify the treatments recommended to manage DH among dentists in the United States. Methods The authors conducted a multicenter study of 1,862 patients with DH who received a diagnosis and were treated by 171 de...

Background Dentin hypersensitivity (DH) is a common problem encountered in clinical practice. The purpose of this study was to identify the management approaches for DH among United States dentists. Methods One hundred eighty five National Dental Practice-Based Research Network clinicians completed a questionnaire regarding their preferred methods...

Introduction Candida albicans has been detected together with Streptococcus mutans in high numbers in plaque-biofilm from children with early childhood caries (ECC). The goal of this study was to examine the C. albicans carriage in children with severe early childhood caries (S-ECC) and the maternal relatedness. Methods Subjects in this pilot cros...

Social-demographic and medical background survey form. (PDF)

The aim was to systemically review the incidence of early childhood caries (ECC). The addressed focused question was “What is the reported incidence of ECC?” Indexed databases were searched using various key words. Five studies were included and processed for data extraction. All studies were prospective and two studies were randomized clinical tri...

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess the accuracy of predicting dental treatment modalities for children seen initially by means of a live-video teledentistry consultation. Methods: A retrospective dental record review was completed of 251 rural pediatric patients from the Finger Lakes region of New York State who had an initial t...

The purpose of this research was to assess the compliance rate with recommended dental treatment by rural paediatric dental patients after a live-video teledentistry consultation. A retrospective dental chart review was completed for 251 rural paediatric patients from the Finger Lakes region of New York State who had an initial teledentistry appoin...

Article title and bibliographic information Maternal oral bacterial levels predict early childhood caries development. Chaffee BW, Gansky SA, Weintraub JA, Featherstone JDB, Ramos-Gomez FJ. J Dent Res 2014; 93(3):238-44 Purpose/Question The authors measured the association of maternal salivary bacterial challenge (mutans streptococci [MS] and lact...

Objective: Premature infants have a higher incidence of developmental defects of enamel (DDE) compared to term infants. However, the association between degree of prematurity and DDE among premature infants is unknown. Our objective was to evaluate the incidence of DDE as a function of gestational age (GA) in premature infants. Method: We per...

Background: Dental caries affecting the primary dentition of U.S. children continues to be the most prevalent chronic childhood disease. Preventive screening for dental caries in toddlers by dental professionals is labor-intensive and costly. Studies are warranted to examine innovative screening modalities that reduce cost, are less labor-intensiv...

Objectives : To assess the incidence of Early Childhood Caries (ECC) in 1-5 year old initially caries free children attending selected urban childcare centers. Methods: Children enrolled in the study were randomized into two groups: Group I received a visual/tactile examination and Group II received a teledentistry examination. Baseline, six month...

Article Title and Bibliographic Information Effects of traumatic dental injuries to primary teeth on permanent teeth—a clinical follow-up study. de Amorim Lde F, Estrela C, da Costa LR. Dent Traumatol 2011;27(2):117-21. Reviewer Dorota T. Kopycka-Kedzierawski, DDS, MPH Purpose/Question To determine the developmental sequelae in the permanent dent...

The purpose of this study was to report the epidemiology and clinical history of oral piercing injuries presenting to US hospital emergency departments (EDs). A retrospective analysis of oral piercing injuries was performed using patient injury data collected from 2002 through 2008 using the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) of...

Objectives: To assess the feasibility of Teledentistry as a screening method for dental caries in preschool children. Methods: Caries prevalence was determined in a cohort of urban preschool children 12-60 months of age. Children were randomized into two panels: panel I received a visual/tactile oral examination and panel II received a teledentistr...

To determine the relapse rate within one year for a cohort of children treated for severe early childhood caries (S-ECC). In an earlier report, we assessed the suppressive effect of 10 percent povidone-iodine and the elimination of active caries on salivary mutans streptococci (MS) populations in 77 children with S-ECC; 49 children returned for a 6...

To assess dental caries prevalence and dental care utilisation in pre-school children enrolled in urban childcare centres that participated in a comparative effectiveness study. Cross-sectional study. Caries prevalence was determined in a cohort of children 12-60 months of age. Eligible children were randomised into two groups: group one received a...

OBJECTIVE: Reports indicate that treatment of S-ECC is characterized by poor clinical outcomes. This report determined the relapse (R) rate within one year post dental surgery for a cohort of children treated for S-ECC. METHOD: 77 children with S-ECC had dental surgery completed in one session; all children had 10% povidone iodine and 1.23% APF foa...

Objectives: To assess caries prevalence in pre-school children enrolled in inner-city childcare centers. Methods: Baseline caries prevalence was determined in a cohort of children 12-60 months of age participating in a comparative effectiveness study. Eligible children were randomized into two groups: group one received a traditional visual/tactile...

The aim of the present study was to analyse the association between socioeconomic and behavioural factors and the presence of active non-cavitated caries lesions in 12-year-old adolescents in Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil. A cross-sectional study was carried out in 1001, 12-year-old adolescents who were selected by the cluster sampling method. A mo...

To determine the oral health status of US women of childbearing age and to analyze the effect of tobacco smoke on their oral health. Data from the 1999-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were evaluated for women 15-44 years of age. The association of exposure to tobacco smoke with untreated caries, mean DMFS, gingivitis, and peri...

This investigational study assessed the suppressive effect of 10 percent povidone iodine (PI) coupled with elimination of active carious lesions on salivary mutans streptococci (MS) populations in children with severe early childhood caries (S-ECC). 77 children (38 females, 39 males) were treated for S- ECC in one session; a 0.2 ml PI solution was...

This study's purpose was to assess caries prevalence by means of teledentistry in 12- to 60-month old children enrolled in Early Head Start inner-city child core centers. Images of the primary dentition were obtained by trained telehealth assistants using on intraoral camera. Images were entered into a Web-based storage and retrieval program. They...

The prevalence of overweight children in the United States continues to increase. To examine the relationship between being overweight and caries in primary and permanent dentition in a nationally representative sample of children. Data from the NHANES III (1988-1994) were analyzed using logistic regression and controlling for potential confounders...

The purpose of this study was to assess the oral health status and dental needs of a nationally representative sample of 1- to 17-year-old children with or without autism. In the 2003 National Survey of Children's Health, parents reported their child's oral health status and needs. The condition of the child's teeth, demographics, time since last d...

The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility and reliability of using intraoral cameras and telehealth communication technology to screen preschool children for oral disease, in particular early childhood caries (ECC). The authors used the existing infrastructure of the Health-e-Access telehealth Network to: (1) assess the diagnostic qua...

Markov modeling is a useful mathematical procedure for calculating probabilities of disease prognosis. Increasingly, Markov models are being applied in medical and health services research and also in social sciences research. The purpose of our study was to use the Markov process to determine time-dependent transition probabilities for caries-free...

In Rochester, NY, telehealth centres were established in six inner-city elementary schools and seven child-care centres. The teledentistry project complemented the existing telehealth model. Using an intraoral camera, telehealth assistants record digital images of children's teeth (768 x 494 pixels) and send the images to a computer at the expert d...

Original Article Dye BA, Shenkin JD, Ogden CL, Marshall TA, Levy SM, Kanellis MJ. The relationship between healthful eating practices and dental caries in children aged 2-5 years in the United States, 1988-1994. J Am Dent Assoc 2004;135(1):55-66. Level of Evidence 2b Purpose To investigate the relationship between healthful eating practices (such...

Subjects. A total of 645 children, 12 to 13 years of age at baseline in 1995, were recruited from 25 secondary schools in the socio-economically disadvantaged north-west region of metropolitan Melbourne, Australia. Suspected etiology or cause. Six food clusters were defined: (1) high sugar-low starch; (2) medium sugar-medium starch; (3) medium suga...

To apply survival analysis to a longitudinal study of the relationship between salivary mutans streptococci (MS) levels at baseline in initially caries-free children and caries onset in deciduous, mixed, and permanent dentition. The Kaplan-Meier survival analysis method was used to compare survival times to caries onset for initially caries-free ch...

Broken appointments continue to be an important productivity, quality assurance, and access gauge for private dental practices and academic dental centers. In November 2001, the University of Rochester Eastman Dental Center, an urban academic dental center, installed an automated confirmation system to address a high incidence of broken appointment...