Department of Epidemiology & Health Promotion
Chair: Fernando Neves Hugo
Clinical Professor and Director, NYU Dentistry Center for Oral Health Policy & Management
The Resources, the Research, and the Evidence to Improve Oral Health Equity Locally and Globally
"Consequential" Epidemiology and Prevention
The Department of Epidemiology & Health Promotion is guided by "consequential" epidemiology, an approach that aims to deliver on the promise of science to sustainably improve oral health equity locally and globally. Faculty and researchers in the Department are engaged in solving the biggest oral public health problems, using the tools of epidemiology, statistics, dissemination and implementation, economics, system improvement, and ethics.
Current Projects
Cavity Prevention Protocols that Address Clinical Outcomes, School Performance, Quality of Life, and Economics
There are few, if any, scalable models of cavity prevention programs that have outcome and cost data.
NYU has a model.
Our results in the US suggest that:
We can reduce caries by 50% to 80%.
Good oral health improves the probability of school attendance and test performance by almost one-and-one-half times.
Prevention is cost effective and cost saving.
No shots, no drilling, no pain, no time out of school, and 50% to 80% cavity reduction makes everybody smile.
World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Center for Quality-improvement, Evidence-based Dentistry Designation
The World Health Organization (WHO) has designated the Department of
Epidemiology & Health Promotion as a WHO Collaborating Center for
Quality–improvement, Evidence-based Dentistry (QED WHO CC). The WHO
designation recognizes NYU Dentistry’s expertise and commitment to
evidence-based dentistry and provides the framework for developing,
monitoring, and disseminating novel approaches to oral health education,
prevention, and disease control in the Americas and globally.
WHO Collaborating Centers are designated by the Director-General of WHO as part of an inter-institutional collaborative network of centers worldwide. They are established to provide concrete activities at the national, regional, and global levels in support of the strategic plans specific to WHO areas of work. All WHO Collaborating Centers in the Region of the Americas are known as PAHO/WHO Collaborating Centers since the Pan American Health Organization also serves as a WHO regional office.
