National Institutes of Health establishes new research center to explore alternatives to Endodontic treatment.

Image source: UT Health San Antonio official website

[SOURCE] DentalGoodNews｜On September 23, 2026, local time (Central Daylight Time, CDT), the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced a grant of approximately US$2 million to jointly establish the National Dental Practice-Based Training Center (hereinafter referred to as "NDP-TC") by UT San Antonio School of Dentistry and UAB School of Dentistry, aiming to promote pulpotomy as an alternative to root canal treatment across the United States.

Traditionally, pain caused by deep dental caries often requires referral to an endodontic specialist for root canal treatment, which not only increases patients' waiting time and financial burden, but in areas with scarce specialist resources, may also lead patients to discontinue treatment because they cannot complete the referral.

Pulpotomy (commonly referred to as vital pulp therapy) is a treatment approach that removes inflamed tissue within the dental crown while preserving healthy pulp tissue in the root, alleviating pain while preserving the natural tooth. NDP-TC states that research shows this procedure has broader application potential in general dental clinics.

Based on this, the first course of the NDP-TC project focuses on pulpotomy as an entry point to accelerate the translation of evidence-based evidence into clinical practice. The project team plans to investigate, within the first year, the barriers dentists face in adopting this technique, including clinical knowledge, confidence, technical training, clinic workflows, and expert support, and to design targeted courses based on the survey results. Dentists will then systematically master the technique through patient case discussions, X-ray image analysis, mentor and peer guidance, and hands-on practice with 3D Printing dental models.

It is reported that the NDP-TC project was launched on September 1, 2026. The first phase (UG3/UH3 awards, jointly funded by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences NCATS and the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research NIDCR under the NIH) will run until August 31, 2028. If the team achieves the preset milestones, the project will enter a three-year multicenter clinical trial phase.

NDP-TC co-principal investigator and Associate Professor at UT San Antonio School of Dentistry Rahma Mungia stated that the long-term goal of the project is to more efficiently translate empirical research into daily clinical practice and to extend its model to more oral care fields. Dr. Kenneth M. Hargreaves, Dean of UT San Antonio School of Dentistry, stated that this alternative approach may help general practitioners and endodontic specialists safely provide tooth-preserving treatment options for suitable patients.

In addition, according to previous reports by DGN, NIH has recently increased its investment in oral translational medicine. In August 2026, Oregon Health & Science University received a grant of more than US$11 million from NIH for Oral microbiome research and the "Portland Oral Health Research Training Program."