Improving human health through discoveries and knowledge translation

From nanotechnology and tissue engineering to clinical orthodontics studies, the Faculty of Dentistry's researchers are expanding the frontiers of human health.

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Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering

Researchers at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Dentistry are developing novel biomaterials for applications in and outside of the oral cavity, as well as improving the longevity of existing materials. A major strength of the Faculty is biomedical engineering; with the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering and the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry helped found the world-renowned Institute of Biomaterials & Biomedical Engineering (IBBME). From tissues-on-a-chip, nano-based disease testing, sleep apnea devices and the development of novel polymers used in medical equipment, Dentistry is making major contributions to health research.

Some of our experts in this field include:

Connective Tissue and Regenerative Medicine

By developing a better understanding of the basic cellular and molecular mechanisms that control the dynamic equilibrium of mineralized and connective tissues in health and disease, paramount to the maintenance of oral health, Dentistry researchers hope to impact disease diagnosis, treatment and the development of novel drug targets and other therapies. This theme includes a broad range of various topics, including biomineralization, mechanobiology, and immunology. Through collaborations and cross appointments with many other faculties and departments at the University and its affiliated hospitals, Dentistry’s multidisciplinary researchers of this theme are driving clinically-relevant discoveries forward.

Some of our experts in this field include:

Christopher McCulloch

Howard Tenenbaum

Dental Public Health

Can we end childhood caries? Can we develop better oral health delivery systems for high-risk populations, such as remote northern Aboriginal communities? Research in this theme is focused on describing the correlations between socio-economic factors and clinical outcomes in dentistry, with the aim of linking academic and community research, service providers, consumers and policy makers. The goal? To develop a better understanding of the complex challenges of, and to maximize the benefit in, delivering dental care.

Some of our experts in this field include:

Education Research

Can we develop better tools to train the dental professionals of tomorrow? That is the focus of the newest of the Faculty of Dentistry’s research foci. Comprising a range of topics crossing health disciplines — program evaluations, student evaluations, basic science education as well as the theory and practice of health education — our goal is to establish UofT Dentistry as an international leader in this emerging field of research, and to expand a program of research in dental education that will have an ongoing positive impact on the Faculty’s pedagogical curriculum. Our researchers are actively involved with the Wilson Centre for Research in Education, which is affiliated with the faculty of medicine at the University of Toronto.

Some of our experts in this field include:

Laura Dempster

Jim Yuan Lai

Carilynne Yarascavitch

Microbiology

From determining how the Lyme disease bacteria, b. burgdorfi, invade cells and cause bone loss to the cataloguing of genetic markers of bacteria in states of health and disease readily available in the oral cavity, this cross-disciplinary research theme covers a broad spectrum of health-related inquiry at the micro level. Through the development of new imagining techniques, DNA analysis and cell-signaling studies, UofT Dentistry researchers are leaders in this emerging field of medical inquiry, biome studies, with its complex ties to overall health.

Some of our experts in this field include:

Oral Pathology and Cancer

Can we detect deadly oral cancers years in advance? Can we better understand the mechanisms that cause oral cancer metastasis and cancers of the head and neck? Researchers is this area are seeking new and better diagnostics and personalized medicine treatments for cancer and other diseases of the oral cavity, head and neck. The Toronto Oral Pathology laboratory, the largest pathology lab service in Canada, is an additional resource for undergraduate and graduate research.

Some of our experts in this field include:

Grace Bradley

Marco Magalhaes

Pain and Neuroscience

How do we feel pain? And can pain be “turned off”? Researchers at the Faculty of Dentistry address questions of pain perception, processing and modulation on several levels. Investigators in this area apply electrophysiological, imaging, molecular, genetic, sensory and behavioral techniques, among others, in vitro and in vivo, to understand mechanisms of sensory and motor activity, and its control and plasticity.

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