Division of Periodontology

The Division of Periodontology consists of didactic, clinical and research components. As a team, we offer our pre-doctoral students, post-graduate students and fellows outstanding opportunities for patient care, education and research. At the pre-doctoral level, the curriculum covers the pathobiology, diagnosis, prevention and treatment of periodontal diseases.

At the post-graduate level, the department offers strong clinical and didactic curriculum as well as research training in both periodontology and implantology in order to enable our graduates to pursue a career in clinical practice, teaching or research. A thorough knowledge of classic and current periodontal literature is stressed. The clinical training aspect of the program is designed to provide the students with a wide and diversified range of clinical experience.

Research has been an important department objective and includes a broad spectrum of basic and clinical science projects. The major research areas in the department include:

a. Pathogenesis of oral opportunistic infections in the immunocompromised host, i.e., aggressive periodontitis, HIV-periodontitis, oropharyngeal candidiasis.

b. Inflammation biology, cytokine biology, pathogenesis of periodontal inflammation in chronic periodontitis.

c. The interrelationship between periodontal inflammation and chronic systemic inflammatory disorders, i.e., atherosclerosis.

d. Clinical research in oral implantology including implant prognostic factors, efficacy of sinus floor elevation procedures and complications.