Marisol Tellez Merchan

• BDS, MPH, PhD
• Professor (Associate) at Temple University

Background/aim Limited research has been conducted regarding the association between mental illness and dental caries. We studied the impact of emotional distress on current and new dental caries among low-income African-American caregivers in Detroit, Michigan and if this association was mediated by poor oral hygiene and sugar consumption and modi...

Objective Our objective was to phenotype periodontal disease (PD) diagnoses from three different sections (diagnosis codes, clinical notes, and periodontal charting) of the electronic dental records (EDR) by developing two automated computer algorithms. Methods We conducted a retrospective study using EDR data of patients (n = 27,138) who received...

Despite advances in periodontal disease (PD) research and periodontal treatments, 42% of the US population suffer from periodontitis. PD can be prevented if high-risk patients are identified early to provide preventive care. Prediction models can help assess risk for PD before initiation and progression; nevertheless, utilization of existing PD pre...

Article Title and Bibliographic Information Silva MCPMD, Lyra MCA, Almeida HCR, Alencar Filho AV, Heimer MV, Rosenblatt A. Caries experience in children and adolescents with Down Syndrome: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Arch Oral Biol. 2020 Jul;115:104,715. doi:10.1016/j.archoralbio.2020.104715. Epub 2020 Apr 8. PMID: 32,422,361. Source of...

Background Transmission of COVID-19 via salivary aerosol particles generated when using handpieces or ultrasonic scalers is a major concern during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this study was to assess the spread of dental aerosols on patients and dental providers during aerosol-generating dental procedures. Methods This pilot study was conduc...

Purpose The transition from a paper‐based to an all‐electronic patient health record took a major step forward in 2018, with the implementation of an electronic health record that supports the School's patient‐centered comprehensive care model and facilitates outcomes assessment. The Patient Wellness Report (PWR) summarizes findings of the patient...

Objectives We conducted a trial to assess the treatment fidelity of an individual‐based oral health education intervention utilising motivational interviewing (MI) techniques and its efficacy when compared to a group‐based traditional oral health education intervention (TOHE) and a standard of care group (SC) in a sample from Philadelphia during a...

Objective To propose an individual‐level indicator of caries severity based on the maximum score generated using the international caries detection and assessment system (ICDAS) and test validity of this individual‐level indicator by assessing differences between this proposed indicator and the traditional decayed, missing, and filled surfaces (DMF...

Background: Chronic stress increases the risk of excess intake of calorie-dense foods. Low-income minority caregivers in the United States are cumulatively exposed to stressors and unhealthy foods, but evidence of this association is limited in this population group. The objective of the current study was to assess the association between chronic...

Background: Recent studies have reveled the presence of a complex fungal community (mycobiome) in the oral cavity. However, the role of oral mycobiome in dental caries and its interaction with caries-associated bacteria is not yet clear. Methods: Whole-mouth supragingival plaque samples from 30 children (6–10 years old) with no caries, early caries...

Article title and bibliographic information: Caries reporting in studies that used the International Caries Detection and Assessment System: A scoping review. ElSalhy M, Ali U, Lai H, Flores-Mir C, Amin M. Community Dent Oral Epidemiol 2019; 47(1): 92-102. Source of funding: Alberta Innovates-Health Solutions Grant Award Number RES 0027148 and T...

An effect of soda intake on dental caries in young children (birth to 5 years) may vary over time. Estimating a dynamic effect may be challenging due to time-varying confounding and loss to follow-up. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate utility of targeted maximum likelihood estimation (TMLE) method in addressing longitudinal data analysis...

Background Health education has a focus on knowledge dissemination and advice giving, which seldom translates into behavioral changes. Motivational interviewing (MI) has potential for helping elderly patients. However, most oral health studies conducted to date have excluded older individuals, and the outcomes examined have been exclusively clinica...

Studies of the microbiome associated with dental caries have largely relied on 16S rRNA sequence analysis, which is associated with PCR biases, low taxonomic resolution, and inability to accurately study functions. Here, we employed whole metagenome shotgun sequencing, coupled with high-resolution analysis algorithm, to analyze supragingival microb...

Many dental schools have integrated tobacco cessation into their predoctoral curricula. However, dental students' perceptions should be taken into consideration when designing those curricula. The aim of this study was to systematically review the published literature on dental students' attitudes and perceptions regarding tobacco cessation. The re...

Article Title and Bibliographic Information Early Caries Predicts Low Oral Health-Related Quality of Life at a Later Age. Kragt L, van der Tas JT, Moll HA, Elfrink ME, Jaddoe VW, Wolvius EB, Ongkosuwito EM. Caries Res. 2016; 50(5):471-9. Source of Funding This study was funded by (1) the Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Erasmus University, R...

The aims of this study were to identify noncognitive factors that dental faculty members perceived to contribute to dental students’ success and to assess dental faculty members’ ratings of the relative importance of these factors to academic performance, clinical performance, and overall success. Out of 184 eligible faculty members at one U.S. den...

Objectives: The relation between the presence of red fluorescent plaque and the caries status in children was studied. In addition, the microbial composition of dental plaque from sites with red fluorescent plaque (RFP) and from sites with no red fluorescent plaque (NFP) was assessed. Methods: Fluorescence photographs were taken from fifty child...

Fluorides and sealants have been shown to reduce caries in populations, making fluoride interventions a large part of the dental public health effort. Although public health programs have traditionally focused on fluoride vehicles delivering less than 1,000 ppm of fluoride, more recent efforts have shifted toward the use of high fluoride vehicles s...

This study aimed to 1) compare variations in Canary System data between geographic regions in the US, and 2) explore correlations between Canary System data as a proxy for caries and state level public health data related to income, health insurance and water fluoridation status.

A systematic review was conducted to assess the relationship between frailty or one of its components and poor oral health. A search strategy was developed to identify articles related to the research question in the PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane, LILACS, and SciELO databases that were published in English, Spanish, or Brazilian Portuguese from 1991 to...

Article Title and Bibliographic Information Baseline caries risk assessment as a predictor of caries incidence. Chaffee BW, Cheng J, Featherstone JD.J Dent 2015;43(5):518-24. Reviewers Marisol Tellez, BDS, MPH, PhD, Vinodh Bhoopathi, BDS, MPH, DScD, Sungwoo Lim, MS, DrPH Purpose/Question To determine, with each increasing category of baseline car...

The International Caries Classification and Management System (ICCMS™) is a comprehensive set of clinical protocols that address all diagnostic, preventive and restorative decisions necessary “to preserve tooth structure and restore only when indicated,” which is the mission adopted at the Temple University Caries Management Pathways workshop, in 2...

The objective of this paper is to describe primary tooth surface level caries progression, over 2 years, based on the severity of the caries lesions. Data were collected from 790 low-income African-American preschool children in Detroit, Mich., USA. The caregivers of the children (aged 0-5 years) completed interviews and the dyad of child-caregiver...

Anxiety regarding dental and physical health is a common and potentially distressing problem, for both patients and health care providers. Anxiety has been identified as a barrier to regular dental visits and as an important target for enhancement of oral health-related quality of life. The study aimed to develop and evaluate a computerized cogniti...

Therapy interventions for dental anxiety that can be easily implemented in dental health care settings are needed. A series of six case studies is presented to demonstrate the feasibility, acceptability, and initial efficacy of a single-session computerized cognitive behavioral therapy intervention for dental anxiety. Six patients at a community de...

Validation of visual caries activity assessment: a 2-yr cohort study. Guedes RS, Plovesan C, Ardenghi TM, Emmanuelli B, Braga MM, Ekstrand KR, Mendes FM. J Dent Res 2014;93(7 suppl):101S-107S. Marisol Tellez, BDS, MPH, PhD, Sungwoo Lim, MS, DrPH PURPOSE/QUESTION: Would children with a higher number of active lesions present a higher risk for develo...

Objective To examine dental caries development and caries risk factors among preschool African American children from low-income families in Detroit, Michigan, over a 4-year window.Methods Data came from a representative sample of 1021 children (0–5 years) and their caregivers in Detroit. The baseline participants in 2002–2003 (W1) were re-examined...

The occurrence of panic symptoms in various anxiety disorders has been associated with more severely impaired and difficul-to-treat cases, but this has not been investigated in dental phobia. We examined the clinical implications of panic symptoms related to sub-clinical and clinically significant dental phobia. The sample consisted of 61 patients...

Objectives To examine the prevalence of dental anxiety and its associations with pain and other psychological variables among patients seeking dental treatment and develop a directed acyclical graph of these relationships.Methods One hundred and twenty patients who sought regular or emergency dental care completed a semi-structured interview assess...

This review presents the most recent studies and evidence on the social determinants of oral health. Oral disease is associated with an array of structural determinants (income, goods, and services). It is also associated with daily living conditions, and social gradients have been reported for dental caries, periodontal disease, oral cancer, and t...

Objectives: The purpose of the study was to compare a geometric morphometric approach for grouping different skeletal malocclusions to a traditional cephalometric approach for a subject population undergoing orthognathic surgery for treatment of malocclusion. Methods: 24 subjects with skeletal malocclusion without facial asymmetry were selected for...

For decades scientific evidence on caries prevention and early detection has informed effective strategies that can be applied nationally and globally; however, these efforts have not yet resulted in changing the restorative focus in caries management to a preventive one. In May 2012 international experts met in Philadelphia to define a new common...

The aims of this study were twofold: to describe different aspects of caregiver satisfaction with pediatric dental treatment provided at a dental school clinic and to explore differences in satisfaction by caregivers' demographics and compliance with their children's appointments. A cross-sectional study was conducted in two phases. In Phase I, a c...

This study sought to provide an overview of current cariology education in Spanish-speaking Latin American dental schools. Data collection was via an eighteen-item survey with questions about curriculum, methods of diagnosis and treatment, and instructors' perceptions about cariology teaching. The response rate was 62.1 percent (n=54), and distribu...

Cariogram validity in schoolchildren: a two-year follow-up study. Campus G, Cagetti MG, Sale S, Carta G, Lingstrom P. Caries Res 2012;46(1):16-22. Marisol Tellez, BDS, MPH, PhD PURPOSE/QUESTION: The study sought to assess the effectiveness of the Cariogram to predict caries increment over a 2-year period Information not available Cohort study Level...

Dental anxiety and specific phobia of dental procedures are prevalent conditions that can result in substantial distress and oral health impairment. This paper critically reviews 22 randomized treatment trials aimed at reducing dental anxiety and avoidance in adults, published in peer-reviewed journals between 1974 and 2012. The following treatment...

Objective: To compare survival rates and cost differentials between the atraumatic restorative treatment (ART) technique and amalgams by type of dental personnel in Ecuador, Panama, and Uruguay. Methods: Children 7 to 9 years of age in rural and urban schools with at least one lesion with initial cavitated enamel caries or a dentinal lesion on a...

Objectives: The objective of this study was to examine the prevalence of dental anxiety and dental treatment avoidance and its association with psychological variables in the patient population seeking dental treatment at Temple University Kornberg School of Dentistry (TUKSoD). Methods: A cross-sectional study (n=120) was conducted on patients wh...

In May 2012, cariologists, dentists, representatives of dental organizations, manufacturers, and third party payers from several countries, met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to define a common mission; goals and strategic approaches for caries management in the 21th century. The workshop started with an address by Mr. Stanley Bergman, CEO of Henry...

The aim of this study was to critically appraise the performance of detection methods for non-cavitated carious lesions (NCCLs). A detailed search of Medline (via OVID), the Cochrane Collaboration, Scielo and EMBASE identified 2054 publications. After title and abstract review by three investigators (JG, MT, AI), 124 publications were selected for...

Objective: To critically appraise all evidence related to the efficacy of nonsurgical caries preventive methods to arrest or reverse the progression of noncavitated carious lesions (NCCls). Methods: A detailed search of Medline (via OVID), Cochrane Collaboration, Scielo, and EMBASE identified 625 publications. After title and abstract review, 10...

Tooth brushing habits become established during the first years of childhood and last throughout lifetime. To assess tooth-brushing characteristics, the procedure was videotaped at school and a questionnaire on oral hygiene knowledge, attitudes and practices was completed. A total 146 5- to 8-year-old low-SES schoolchildren from Bogotá participated...

Aim: To critically appraise evidence for the prediction of caries using four caries risk assessment (CRA) systems/guidelines (Cariogram, Caries Management by Risk Assessment (CAMBRA), American Dental Association (ADA), and American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD)). This review focused on prospective cohort studies or randomized controlled tr...

Organizers of the Detroit Oral Cancer Prevention Project at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, launched a multifaceted media campaign targeted toward a high-risk population to raise awareness about oral cancer, educate the public regarding the importance of early detection and increase screening rates. The authors present data about the effecti...

Introduction: the treatment of early proximal carious lesions represents a challenge to modern conceptions of cariology and operative dentistry. The possible solutions include, besides an early diagnosis, development of new materials to control early caries progression. The objective of this in vitro study was to evaluate the degree of penetration...

To assess dental fluorosis, dental caries and quality of life factors associated with dental fluorosis among schoolchildren living in a Colombian endemic dental fluorosis area. 110 12-year olds were visually examined for dental caries (ICDAS) and dental fluorosis (TF) and a self-administered quality of life and fluorosis questionnaire was applied....

The authors conducted a study to survey the perspectives of dentists regarding the 2010 American Dental Association (ADA) recommendation to seal non-cavitated carious lesions (NCCLs) in children and young adults. The authors mailed a questionnaire to a randomly selected sample of 2,400 general dentists (GDs) and pediatric dentists (PDs) in the Unit...

The prevalence of proximal caries in primary molar teeth is high in many countries. (1) To study by means of a split-mouth design the 1- and 2.5-year efficacy of sealing proximal lesions vs. flossing instructions (control) on primary molar teeth. (2) To assess children's behaviour and pain perception during the procedure. Ninety-one 4- to 6-year-ol...

Efficacy of three treatment strategies for initial-approximal caries lesions (A-Infiltration; B-Sealing; C-Flossing-instruction) on 40 young adults was assessed by means of a split-mouth design. Objective: To determine the progression of lesions detected as active at baseline, by radiographic examination after one year. Methods: 120 proximal lesion...

Introducción y Objetivo: Tradicionalmente el estado de salud oral de una población es evaluado mediante indicadores clínicos. Sin embargo, se ha venido reconociendo la importancia del impacto psicosocial de las enfermedades en la calidad de vida poblaciónal. El objetivo de este estudio es describir la calidad de vida relacionada con salud oral en n...

There is no standardized instrument in Colombia to assess caries risk using a practical test. Absence of the instrument has generated massive application of oral health preventive and promotion programs. Objective: to establish caries risk through riesgograma, among Colombians and evaluate existing differences between states. Methods: Dentist who a...

Proper diagnosis and treatment of approximal lesions radiographically located around the enamel-dentin-junction (EDJ) have been a challenge for the clinician. A 3-year split-mouth study on approximal-posterior surfaces is being conducted to compare the efficacy of three preventive-procedures (flossing-instructions, sealing-technique, infiltrating-t...

Objectives: To describe in economically deprived 3-5 year-olds in Bogot: 1. Caries status and caries risk. 2. Behavior and pain-intensity during three restorative-technique procedures. Methods: 477 patients with one extensive cavity in a posterior tooth participated, as part of a RCT that aims to compare the survival of 3 class-II-cavity restorat...

Objective: To describe correlations between oral-health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) factors between children 8-10 years old and their caregivers. Methods: Linguistic validation (forward/backward translation) of the COHQoL questionnaire and a test-retest exercise were conducted. The questionnaires (49 items for caregivers and 29 for children)...

To assess the relationship between African-American caregivers' and children's caries levels adjusting for sociodemographic factors. A representative sample of 1021 children (0-5 years) and their caregivers were recruited using a stratified two-stage area probability sample of households in Detroit. The response rate was 73.7%. Caries was measured...

While national surveys have found that African-Americans have a higher prevalence and severity of dental caries than white-Americans, there are only a few descriptive studies of the prevalence and severity of dental caries in low-income urban African-Americans. This study assessed the prevalence, severity and determinants of dental caries, using th...

Since the 1990's the Colombian health system provides universal access to family-planning services. Hence, the importance of evaluating trend changes in contraceptive use.Objectives: To evaluate the trends in unmet needs, failure and contraceptive use, by socio-demographic and geographic characteristics from 1990-2005. Methods: A probabilistic-mult...

Using PCR-based denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis analyses of oral bacterial samples in 20 mother-child dyads, this study demonstrated a high degree of similarity of bacterial compositions between the mothers and their children; the two may share as much as 94% of their oral bacterial spectra, including cariogenic species.

This paper describes early findings of evaluations of the International Caries Detection and Assessment System (ICDAS) conducted by the Detroit Center for Research on Oral Health Disparities (DCR-OHD). The lack of consistency among the contemporary criteria systems limits the comparability of outcomes measured in epidemiological and clinical studie...

To assess the relationship between neighborhood effects and the severity of dental caries among low-income African-Americans. A multistage probability sample of African-American families living in the poorest 39 census tracts in Detroit was drawn. During 2002-03, cross-sectional data of a cohort that includes 1021 caregivers were collected in the f...

This study examines individual and contextual correlates of cigarette smoking in a randomly selected, community-based sample of low-income African American women. The study sample was selected by using a two-stage area probability sample design. Participants were recruited from > 12,000 housing units selected from 39 census tracts in the city of De...

This study examines the current prevalence of cigarette smoking and the number of cigarettes smoked in a community-based sample of 1021 low-income African-American men and women. Participants were selected using a two-stage, area probability sample design. Data were collected in 2002-2003 in face-to-face interviews and analyzed in 2005. All data an...

Primary care providers (e.g., family physicians, pediatricians, registered nurses, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners) could play a pivotal role in the provision of preventive services, especially for very young children (younger than 3 years old) and population groups with limited access to dental care. Given the current problems with a...

Exploring the association between neighborhoods and dental caries could provide a way to address oral health inequalities in a population by developing multilevel oral health community interventions. This study examines neighborhood effects on the severity of caries among African Americans, selected in a multistage probability sample of African-Ame...