UFCD Department of Community Dentistry and Behavioral
Science:
Current Projects
Here
is a list of current projects that our faculty are working on.
My
research investigates biological, social, and psychological factors
that may influence the experience of pain. Pain is perhaps the
most widespread and expensive health problem in the United
States. My research uses standard psychophysical, or sensory
testing, procedures to assess people’s responses to pain. The
major line of research in my laboratory focuses on how women and men
experience pain differently. Women generally report more pain in
daily life than men, and they also show lower pain thresholds. We
are also interested in understanding the reasons for these differences,
and his research examines psychosocial factors (e.g. mood, coping, sex
roles) as well as physiological variables such as hormone levels and
blood pressure. In addition, we are studying whether
pain-relieving medications work differently for women and men and
whether sex hormones can change the effectiveness of pain
medicines. I have also investigated certain pain disorders,
especially those that are more common in women than men, including TMJ
pain. More recently, we have begun examining ethnic differences
in the experience of pain, and we would like to expand this line of
research in the future. My research is primarily funded by the
National Institutes of Health.
One
of my current research areas is examining the stability in
cardiovascular and neuroendocrine reactivity to pain stimuli across a
1-year period. This line of work is identifying patterns of response
that may be predictive of the development of cardiovascular disease.
Currently I also funded from the Center for Autoimmune Diseases to
study daily stress, coping and changes in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
(SLE) Symptoms. This project includes membership in a mentoring team to
facilitate research training for a member of her division, Dr. Michelle
Graham. She has facilitated the awarding of a loan repayment grant from
the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparity to Dr.
Graham and a minority supplement from National Institute of Arthritis
and Musculosketal and Skin Disease to examine the dental implication of
SLE symptom changes. In addition, Dr. Logan is collaborating with Dr.
Tomar to study the role cultural mistrust plays in decisions to
participate in cancer screenings among members of under represented
minority. These projects are funded through the Center for Disease
Control and National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparity.
She is currently co-investigator on a grant jointly funded by NIDCR and
NCI entitled Florida State Model for Prevention and Control of Oral and
Pharyngeal Cancer (Scott Tomar PI).
My
overarching interests have been in the study of behavioral, emotional,
and cognitive responses to pain. Most of my early studies
involved identification of interrelationships between pain, negative
mood, coping strategies, and outcome among patients seeking care for
chronic pain. A number of these studies involved patients
receiving care in an orofacial pain clinic. As females are more
likely to seek care for orofacial pain, I began to focus on sex
differences in pain and determinate of health seeking behavior,
particularly as they relate to psychological responses to pain. I
have recently taken my expertise in measuring pain and its impact and
applied them to the study of oral epidemiology – the study of orofacial
pain in community samples. Topics of recent publications include
the longitudinal links between pain, negative mood, and sleep; health
care behaviors among minority females; the sex-differentiated effects
of financial status as a risk factor for orofacial pain; and
pain-related communication patterns among community-dwelling adults.
Dr.
Thomas maintains a full time practice in hospital dentistry at the VA
Medical Center in Gainesville, Florida. In this capacity he
manages the dental care of primarily geriatric patients, many of whom
have significant medically compromising conditions. His residency
and fellowship training are in Oral Pathology and Geriatrics,
respectively. His primary interests are in education for both
undergraduate and post-graduate dentists, as well as other health care
providers, in the dental management of medically compromised older
adults. Dr. Thomas has been involved for over 20 years with
continuing education and contributions to the literature in oral
medicine, oral pathology and geriatrics.
Scott Tomar:
As a public health dentist and
oral epidemiologist, my research interests involve the understanding
and control of modifiable risk factors for oral diseases in
populations. One primary area of interest is tobacco use and its
effects on oral health. My research in this area has included
tobacco-associated oral diseases, the epidemiology of tobacco use, and
improving the outcomes for people with oral cancer — a disease largely
associated with tobacco use. I am currently involved in a number
of inter-related research projects on oral cancer, including the
development of a state model for the prevention and control of oral
cancer in Florida. One ongoing project involves an assessment of
racial differences in attitudes and behaviors related to cancer
screening. I’m also involved in the
training and development of a public health workforce and a dental
community that understands public health issues. I direct the
University of Florida Dental Public Health Residency Program, which
provides advanced training for dentists interested in pursuing a career
in public health dentistry—one of the nine dental specialties
recognized by the American Dental Association. I teach in the
University of Florida’s Master of Public Health (MPH) degree program
and am involved in teaching public health topics to dental
students. For the past four years, I have been a faculty member
of the Tobacco Use Prevention Training Institute, a summer educational
program for tobacco control workers sponsored by the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention and the University of North Carolina
School of Public Health.
Service is part of the name of our
Division, and I’ve had the privilege of serving the profession and
public in a number of capacities. I am currently Editor of the
Journal of Public Health Dentistry, the official journal of the
American Association of Public Health Dentistry (AAPHD). Prior to
becoming Editor, I was a member of the Executive Council of AAPHD, and
recently completed my term as Symposium Coordinator and Program Chair
for the Behavioral Science and Health Services Research section of the
International Association for Dental Research. I’ve served as a
consultant for a number of agencies and organizations, including the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of
Health, and the Florida Comprehensive Cancer Control Initiative.
Locally, I’m involved with the Alachua County Tobacco-Free Partnership,
and I’m proud that my older son is an officer in our county’s chapter
of Students Working Against Tobacco.
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