Carolinas healthcare system receives $8 million NIH grant to conduct first-ever study of its kind

Carolinas Medical Center has been awarded an $8 million grant from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) to study dental and oral medicine outcomes of patients who have received high-dose radiation to the head and neck region. “Currently, dental management of these patients is largely based on expert opinion and there are no evidence based guidelines available to inform the healthcare team who manage patients before or after radiation therapy,” said Michael Brennan, DDS, MHS, Co-Principal Investigator of this grant. “The data we collect will lead to a better understanding of the oral and dental sequelae experienced by these patients after radiation therapy, which will lead to protocols for patients with head and neck cancer that are based on data from this five year study.” Read more here.