Federal Grant Award Summary

The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston received a $323,000 Project Grant award dated July 9, 2026, from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) under the Oral Diseases and Disorders Research program (CFDA 93.121). The grant supports a two-year research initiative (through July 8, 2028) focused on modeling causal mediation by dental care and developing risk prediction tools for osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ) in bisphosphonate users. The project addresses a critical clinical gap by establishing rigorous methodological frameworks to understand how specific dental interventions causally modify ONJ risk—a serious adverse event that complicates the treatment of osteoporosis and cancer-related bone metastases in older adults with multiple comorbidities.

The deliverables include development of advanced statistical mediation models that account for time-varying bisphosphonate exposure, time-dependent dental care interventions, competing risk of mortality, and the time-to-event nature of ONJ onset. Additionally, the project will generate validated dynamic prognostic models incorporating time-varying risk factors to translate research findings into actionable clinical decision-support tools. These methodological and predictive outputs are designed to enable evidence-based clinical decision-making regarding whether, when, and how specific dental interventions should be prioritized or modified during bisphosphonate therapy, thereby bridging the gap between current observational clinical guidelines and causal scientific evidence.