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Research
Barbara Smith Receives PhD from U. of Michigan
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Since Barbara Smith has been such a key part of the dream that would become Apple Tree Dental, it is only fitting
that Apple Tree Dental would become a key part of her dream to pursue a PhD in Epidemiology.
Epidemiology is a study of our collective health. Epidemiologists search for the “who, when, where, and why” of health
problems, so that they can find specific medications and/or behaviors that prevent disease. Epidemiology is the basic
science of public health. Dr. Smith first became interested in epidemiology as an undergraduate studying public health
and dental hygiene at Indiana University, where she graduated with a Bachelors degree in 1971. For the next seven years
she taught public health to dental hygiene students, was a consultant for the Indiana State Board of Health, and served
as a clinical hygienist in private practice.
A new phase in Barbara’s life began when she moved to Minnesota to attended the University of Minnesota (U of M) to obtain
a Master’s Degree in Public Health. For the next 16 years, she took on the dual role of educator/administrator of the
U of M’s Graduate Program in Oral Health Services for Older Adults. It was here that she met Dr. Michael Helgeson, and
became one of the four main founders of a nonprofit dental organization that would come to be called Apple Tree Dental.
About the early days at Apple Tree she says, “I can recall the early planning meetings around Mike Helgeson’s kitchen table
with Mike Gavino and George Goldhammer. I was infected by the enthusiasm and watching the synergy of ideas.”
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Barbara Smith, PhD
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For the last 18 years, Barbara Smith has always been a key board member and leader for Apple Tree. She has been such an important
person to Apple Tree Dental that, when she announced that she was leaving Minnesota to pursue a PhD in Epidemiology at the
University of Michigan, the hearts of many people in the Apple Tree family went along with her.
She soon found herself at the University of Michigan, sitting in classes with very bright 20-something’s. “There were times when
I was quite frankly terrified,” she recalls, “I was so afraid of failing and there was so much at stake. If I couldn’t make it, I
had disassembled a perfectly good life. The comprehensive exams still put a knot in my stomach when I think of them.”
The journey from the first class to graduation day took four months short of 6 years. Where does Apple Tree fit into this educational journey? Barbara Smith’s doctoral dissertation used Apple Tree’s longitudinal
database to study the stability of oral health status in a long-term care population. She wanted to find out whether the provision
of routine dental care is a “race that can’t be won” or if it really does result in stable oral health.
To do this, she analyzed the dental records of 868 residents over time. Stability was defined as a good check-up with no dental
problems that needed treatment. She found good news: routine provision of oral health services in long-term care facilities can
establish stable oral health and maintain it over time. 44% of the study group achieved oral health stability and maintained it.
What other research is Dr. Smith interested in pursuing? “I am interested in finding ways to reduce the amount of oral disease in
the older adult patient. For example, I am interested in finding effective interventions with caregivers of the cognitively impaired,
and examining the relationship of provision of care to incidence of respiratory events, such as pneumonia, in nursing home residents.” |
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