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Dental Health Focus Of Grant

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 8, 2008

A $5.3 million grant awarded to the University of Florida College of Dentistry will target cancer prevention for low-income men across the state, including those in St. Petersburg.

The National Institutes of Health grant creates a new research center that will attempt to prevent and detect early cancers of the head and neck in minority men, says Henrietta Logan, the principal investigator for the center, which will be based in Gainesville.

The UF satellite dental clinic, based at St. Petersburg College in Seminole, will eventually be one of several other facilities across Florida involved in this specialized research, Logan says.

Black men suffer a disproportionate burden and deaths from head and neck cancers, which are responsible for 11,000 deaths a year. It is the 10th leading cause of death among black men, who suffer twice the mortality of white men, the college reports.

The dental clinic is the key to prevention because oral cancer often begins with a mouth sore or suspicious spot found by during a regular dental checkup. Early detection may be able to prevent the need for disfiguring surgery or radiation, which may involve a person losing their ability to speak.

For information, visit www.dental.ufl.edu/Offices/TakeTheBite/.

A staff report

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