Oral Diseases and Disorders Research

Objectives: To improve oral, dental and craniofacial health through performing and supporting basic, translational, and clinical research; conducting and funding research training and career development programs to ensure an adequate number of talented, well-prepared, and diverse investigators; coordinating and assisting relevant research and research-related activities among all sectors of the research community; and promoting the timely transfer of knowledge gained from research and its implications for health to the public, health professionals, researchers, and policy-makers. 1. The Behavioral and Social Sciences (BSS) Research Program supports basic and applied BSS research to promote oral health, to prevent oral diseases and related disabilities, and to improve management of craniofacial conditions, disorders and injury. 2. The Clinical and Practice-Based Research Program supports cross-sectional descriptive, case-control, prospective cohort and retrospective studies of dental, oral, and craniofacial diseases and disorders. The NIDCR-supported National Dental Practice-Based Research Network is a program in which national oral health studies are conducted in dental practices on topics of importance to practitioners and their patients. 3. The Clinical Trials Program supports improving oral health with high-quality evidence derived from well-executed Phase I, II, III, and IV clinical trials. 4. The Data Science, Computational Biology and Bioinformatics Program focuses on challenges in integrating and interpreting diverse and high-volume data to better understand dental, oral, and craniofacial conditions and their health consequences including the areas of bioinformatics, data science, computational biology and computational genomics, and systems biology approaches to dental, oral, and craniofacial research. 5. The Dental Materials and Biomaterials Program supports development of innovative approaches to restore tissue function by replacement and/or enhancement of dental, oral and craniofacial tissues compromised by trauma or disease. NIDCR encourages basic and translational extramural research in dental materials, medical devices, biosensors, imaging, dental implants, biocompatibility of dental materials, and biomaterials for craniofacial restoration and reconstruction. 6. The Developmental Biology and Genetics program supports basic and translational research to better understand the development of craniofacial structures from the early embryonic specification of the neural crest through the later development of teeth and craniofacial sutures. This program also supports research into the genetic and environmental contributions to craniofacial disorders, particularly their study in model organisms. 7. The Health Disparities Research Program supports studies that: provide a better understanding of the basis of oral health disparities and inequities; develop and test interventions tailored/targeted to underserved populations; seek to understand a broadened array of determinants of disparities/inequities in oral health status and care at multiple levels; take a holistic, social ecological, multi-level interventional approach designed to have a meaningful impact on oral health status and quality of life of vulnerable and underserved populations. 8. The HIV/AIDS and Oral Health Research Program supports extramural basic, translational and clinical research on HIV/AIDS to advance understanding of the underlying molecular, cellular, immunological and genetic mechanisms of HIV infection, the development of oral co-morbidities associated with HIV/AIDS, and the effects of HIV treatments on oral and dental tissues. 9. The Microbiology Program supports basic research examining the role of the oral microbiota (comprising bacteria, archaea, fungi and viruses) in dental health and disease as well as preclinical studies aimed at developing new prevention and treatment options for dental infections. Topics include examining the oral microbiota through