Rare Gum Disease Among African-American Children is Focus of Study

Dr. Daniel H. Fine

Oral biologist Daniel H. Fine and his team at Rutgers School of Dental Medicine have tracked more than 2,500 Newark children since 2007 to chart the progression of a rare form of gum disease that afflicts African-American adolescents.

The disease, called “localized aggressive periodontitis," which has a genetic basis, affects 2 percent of African-America children ages 11 to 17.

A $3.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will help Fine and his team pinpoint biological markers in saliva that can predict whether bone loss will occur from the disease and which teeth it will affect before there are symptoms.  Read more about his research here.