Lasting Impressions | Fall 2015

4 © NSU LASTING IMPRESSIONS has been slower to catch up, according to Ana Karina Mascarenhas, B.D.S, M.P.H, Dr.P.H., associate dean of research and a dental public health specialist at the College of Dental Medicine. There’s now a growing body of evidence and recognition that poor oral health— particularly periodontal disease—is linked to several chronic diseases, including diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. There also are studies being done that link premature births and low birth weight to poor oral health in pregnant women. “Public health is now a pressing issue that will present opportunities for those educated and trained in this sector,” said Mascarenhas. Students in the College of Dental Medicine who want to pursue their M.P.H. receive the degree from NSU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine. FUTURE OF DENTISTRY The future of dentistry is public health, according to Cristina García-Godoy, D.D.S., M.P.H., CCRP. “We’re moving toward the prevention era in dentistry,” said Godoy, the director of Clinical Research at the College of Dental Medicine, who pointed out that many of the clinical trials conducted in her lab are focused on preventive care. As course director for the College of Dental Medicine’s Primary Care and Public Health since 2012, she’s charged with giving dental students what she said is their “first, big public health message. It motivates them.” Godoy, who received her M.P.H. from NSU in 2011, said she became interested in pursuing the degree while doing a survey study as part of her research. “It was not clinical; it was with students, from NSU. It was a three-year study with predoctoral students, and we wanted to see what their reaction was in treating HIV/AIDs patients. I would visit our care resource clinic in Oakland Park, and I became very involved.” Her interest in public health started earlier than that, however. It was an introduction by her father—Federico Garcia-Godoy, D.D.S., M.A., a pediatric dentist in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic—and a study he was conducting that would peak her public health interest initially. Her father’s study and subsequent health promotion was to instruct pregnant women in the importance of caring for their own teeth to help prevent early “It’s the new paradigm in public health where all services are provided.” At top, dental student Ashleigh Weyh, right, picks up packets of toothbrushes, tooth- paste, and floss from Danka Premovic in the CDM’s Dispens- ing Department.The packets will be given out during public health hygiene workshops.The CDM’s commitment to pub- lic health includes special needs clinics, above, and com- munity events, such as Give Kids A Smile Day, left.