Wednesday, July 2, 2025 7/2/2025

Modeling Complex Mechanisms Underlying Oral Health Disparities in Young Children and Their Caregivers

Award Number: R01DE030302
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DENTAL AND CRANIOFACIAL RESEARCH
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 09/01/2023
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 08/31/2024

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Modeling Complex Mechanisms Underlying Oral Health Disparities in Young Children and Their Caregivers - We propose to use complex systems science methods to understand how social connectedness influences the utilization of dental care by young children and their caregivers. The overall goal of our research program is to address disparities in Early Childhood Caries (ECC) as it remains the most prevalent disease afflicting children, the consequences of which can be serious and long lasting. Social influence is an important moderator of the causes of disease, the population distribution of disease (e.g. disparities), and health-related behavior change via social networks. Understanding the role of social influence provides a potent perspective on why behavioral interventions aimed solely at individuals have often failed to produce meaningful results. For these reasons, interest in the development of social network interventions has grown, but much of the information necessary to develop and adequately tailor interventions to the underlying mechanisms responsible for disease production is severely lacking, especially for populations facing the greatest burdens of disease. Complex systems science approaches, such as agent-based modeling and social network analysis, can provide critical insights into the mechanisms responsible for the production of health disparities. Yet, applications to oral health are minimal. We propose to apply complex systems science methods to understand the mechanisms underlying population distributions of ECC. We propose the following specific aims: (1) Characterize the pathways by which social connectedness of caregivers interacts with individual-level perceptions of oral health status, behaviors and dental care practices to shape population patterns of ECC. (2) Evaluate social network structure and composition of caregivers of young children in relation to individual- level dental care utilization behaviors among a sample of Boston public housing residents. (3) Identify and test hypothetical interventions aimed at modifying the social-behavioral and caries risk mechanisms through the use of in silico experimentation (i.e., simulations). Outcomes of our research will inform the design of targeted interventions that respond to complex system dynamics of populations affected by health disparities. ECC prevalence and severity are disproportionately higher among children from disadvantaged groups, including the poor and certain racial/ethnic minority groups. Importantly, ECC is one of the largest unmet healthcare needs of children in the US, and significant disparities in care utilization exist. Public housing residents are a high impact population for the study of disparities. As a population group, they are characterized by spatial clustering of poverty and poor health and are ideally suited for the proposed work. Our results are expected to yield important insights into the strength of the interactions responsible for producing behavioral patterns and their consequences, and provided the necessary data for using social relationships as potential leverage points for interventions to improve oral health.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2025 ( Subtotal = -$889,533 )
2025	2023	UNIVERSITY OF UTAH	201 PRESIDENTS CIR	SALT LAKE CITY	UT	84112	SALT LAKE	USA	Oral Diseases and Disorders Research	000	3	4/7/2025	CHANGE OF GRANTEE / TRAINING INSTITUTION / AWARDING INSTITUTION	-$889,533
														Subtotal = -$889,533

Issue Date FY: 2024 ( Subtotal = $0 )
2024	2023	UNIVERSITY OF UTAH	201 PRESIDENTS CIR	SALT LAKE CITY	UT	84112	SALT LAKE	USA	Oral Diseases and Disorders Research	004	3	9/13/2024	CHANGE OF GRANTEE / TRAINING INSTITUTION / AWARDING INSTITUTION	$0
2024	2023	UNIVERSITY OF UTAH	201 PRESIDENTS CIR	SALT LAKE CITY	UT	84112	SALT LAKE	USA	Oral Diseases and Disorders Research	003	3	5/2/2024	CHANGE OF GRANTEE / TRAINING INSTITUTION / AWARDING INSTITUTION	$0
2024	2023	UNIVERSITY OF UTAH	201 PRESIDENTS CIR	SALT LAKE CITY	UT	84112	SALT LAKE	USA	Oral Diseases and Disorders Research	002	3	2/22/2024	CHANGE OF GRANTEE / TRAINING INSTITUTION / AWARDING INSTITUTION	$739,788
2024	2022	TRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY	85 EAST NEWTON ST # M-921	BOSTON	MA	02118	SUFFOLK	USA	Oral Diseases and Disorders Research	001	2	2/22/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	-$626,395
2024	2021	TRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY	85 EAST NEWTON ST # M-921	BOSTON	MA	02118	SUFFOLK	USA	Oral Diseases and Disorders Research	000	1	2/22/2024	NEW	-$113,393
														Subtotal = $0

Issue Date FY: 2023 ( Subtotal = $498,184 )
2023	2023	UNIVERSITY OF UTAH	201 PRESIDENTS CIR	SALT LAKE CITY	UT	84112	SALT LAKE	USA	Oral Diseases and Disorders Research	002	3	8/5/2023	CHANGE OF GRANTEE / TRAINING INSTITUTION / AWARDING INSTITUTION	$498,184
2023	2022	TRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY	85 EAST NEWTON ST # M-921	BOSTON	MA	02118	SUFFOLK	USA	Oral Diseases and Disorders Research	001	2	8/4/2023	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
2023	2022	TRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY	85 EAST NEWTON ST # M-921	BOSTON	MA	02118	SUFFOLK	USA	Oral Diseases and Disorders Research	000	2	8/3/2023	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
														Subtotal = $498,184

Issue Date FY: 2022 ( Subtotal = $626,395 )
2022	2022	TRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY	85 E NEWTON ST M-921	BOSTON	MA	02118	SUFFOLK	USA	Oral Diseases and Disorders Research	001	2	8/16/2022	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$626,395
2022	2021	TRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY	85 E NEWTON ST M-921	BOSTON	MA	02118	SUFFOLK	USA	Oral Diseases and Disorders Research	000	1	1/11/2022	NEW	$0
														Subtotal = $626,395

Issue Date FY: 2021 ( Subtotal = $576,248 )
2021	2021	TRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY	85 E NEWTON ST M-921	BOSTON	MA	02118	SUFFOLK	USA	Oral Diseases and Disorders Research	001	1	9/27/2021	NEW	$0
2021	2021	TRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY	85 E NEWTON ST M-921	BOSTON	MA	02118	SUFFOLK	USA	Oral Diseases and Disorders Research	000	1	9/21/2021	NEW	$576,248
														Subtotal = $576,248

Grand Total All Awards = $811,294

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Modeling Complex Mechanisms Underlying Oral Health Disparities in Young Children and Their Caregivers

Award Number: R01DE030302

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DENTAL AND CRANIOFACIAL RESEARCH

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 09/01/2023

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 08/31/2024

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