Faculty in the News – August 2024

Three recently-published news stories leaned on the expertise of UCLA School of Dentistry faculty members:

• In the Los Angeles Daily News, Dr. Honghu Liu discussed the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health-funded study he is leading alongside UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and Center for Health Policy Research colleagues to determine how residents have been impacted by the 2015 Aliso Canyon gas leak.
  The clinical assessment study will include lab tests, and screening of heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature and body mass index, according to Liu. Researchers will also conduct cognitive and neurological screening, measure lung function, and look at their lung capacity. They will collect blood samples to test blood-related diseases and liver and kidney functions.
   
• Via a TIME magazine feature on the importance of flossing, Professor and Associate Dean of Research Dr. Yvonne Hernandez-Kapila explained her discoveries on the link between gum health and overall systemic health throughout the body.
  When gum health suffers, the consequences can be wide-ranging. The blood vessels in the gums are “leaky,” explains Yvonne Kapila ... When someone’s gums are inflamed or diseased, “this leakiness allows bacteria, viruses, and all these other things that are in the outside world to enter your body” and potentially spread throughout it via the bloodstream, she explains.
   
• For the Today Show's online audience, Health Sciences Assistant Clinical Professor Dr. Elbert Tom broke down the benefits of a deep dental cleaning.
  Then, the person performing the procedure will use a familiar tool — an ultrasonic cleaner with a vibrating metal tip — to "chip tartar off the teeth above and below the gum line," Tom explains. "It's accompanied by a water spray that washes the tartar and flushes the plaque from the gum pocket," he adds.