University of Toronto Dental School Biomaterials expert and newly appointed assistant professor Bo Huang, DMD, MS, PhD, has long known that there is a big difference between research conducted at the bench and how the results of that research ultimately benefit patients, according to with school.
Huang, who begins a part-time appointment this month, was a dentist in China after earning her DMD at the Air Force Medical University (formerly the Fourth Military Medical University) in Xian, China, in 2007. She then earned graduated with a master’s degree in oral microbiology from Peking University in Beijing in 2010.
In 2011, Huang immigrated to Canada and began a PhD at the School of Dentistry in biomaterials. It studied the biocompatibility of the most common materials used in fillings and how they degraded in the oral environment.
Throughout her degree, which she completed in 2017, Huang found that the gap between research and practice was larger and more problematic than she previously thought.
“Whenever I went [to conferences] and I presented my work, the clinicians always asked, how can it benefit us? How long will it take to translate your results into the clinic?’ he said.
Huang’s co-supervisors, professors Yoav Finer and Dennis Cvitkovitch, suggested she get further residency training “to think like a clinician again, to see how I can translate research into clinical applications,” she said.
The debate was important to Huang, the school said, and ultimately shaped her future career. She entered the Master of Science in Prosthodontics program at the School in 2017. For her thesis she studied the enzymatic activities of oral bacteria that can lead to the destruction of hard tooth structures.
But for Huang, the school said, research into these tiny bacteria always comes back to the human factor.
“I have an advantage as a researcher,” Huang said. “I can go back to the clinic and treat patients and see what materials really work in patients’ mouths. May I ask, what are the demands and needs from the patient side? Then, I can plan my research better.”
Huang recognizes the potential for all patients to benefit from her research findings, as well as the potential advances that can be made in biomaterials. That progress flows both ways, the school added, as Huang will use her clinical research experience as she teaches prosthetics to undergraduates and continues her research in biomaterials.
Huang won’t leave her patients behind either, the school said. He plans to continue seeing patients as a part-time prosthetist, ensuring he always has a deep understanding of patients’ needs whether he’s in the lab, clinic or classroom, the school said.
Relevant Articles
The body’s own immune system destroys the teeth and resins in the restorations
Undiscovered mechanism linking periodontitis to other inflammatory diseases
Dental Students Join ‘Houses’ to Maintain Personal Connections During Pandemic
