UT Health San Antonio School of Dentistry names director of Center for Pain Therapeutics and Addiction Research

SAN ANTONIO, Aug. 27, 2024 – Kenneth M. Hargreaves, DDS, PhD, professor of endodontics at the School of Dentistry of The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio), has been named inaugural director of the school’s Center for Pain Therapeutics and Addiction Research.

Hargreaves, who chaired the Department of Endodontics at the school for 26 years, is a world-renowned expert in pain research and has served as principal or co-principal investigator on numerous National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense and foundation-funded projects totaling more than $139 million.

Just recently, his research proposal, “Development of non-opioid analgesics to treat chronic pain,” was approved for $1.3 million in funding over three years by the DOD’s Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs for its chronic pain management program. The project began Aug. 1.

The School of Dentistry’s new Center for Pain Therapeutics and Addiction Research represents a transformative multidisciplinary approach to decrease pain and addiction.

“There is no person more qualified to lead the School of Dentistry in this endeavor,” said Peter M. Loomer, DDS, PhD, MBA, professor and dean of the UT Health San Antonio School of Dentistry. “We look forward to collaborating with Dr. Hargreaves on this exciting and significant step in the school’s path towards addressing critical health challenges in pain and addiction while continuing our ascendance to the top NIH-funded dental schools in the world.”

Non-opioid pain management

Hargreaves’ studies, including new preliminary data from his current DOD research, provide a strong scientific rationale for using omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and related metabolites to treat chronic pain, in lieu of opioids. This has application far beyond dental treatment.

While military medicine has made great strides in improving survival of personnel with traumatic burn injuries, for example, management of both acute and chronic pain is a challenge. In particular, improvised explosive devices (IEDs), or roadside bombs, often generate substantial burn injuries.

Burns comprise up to 10% of combat casualties and require considerable and sustained resources for initial treatment and subsequent rehabilitation. In addition, about 2 million burn injuries occur annually in the U.S. civilian population, with about 25% requiring medical treatment.

Hargreaves’ research proposal notes that omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and related metabolites can inhibit pain receptors such as TRPV1, a protein the provides detection and regulation of body temperature as well as a sensation of scalding heat and pain. But while those fatty acids are regarded as essential nutrients that perform important functions, the body doesn’t make enough, meaning they must come from diet.

Increased dietary intake of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids has been shown to reduce pain from migraine headaches, post-traumatic headache and several neuropathic pain conditions. They have been approved for use in humans by the Food and Drug Administration, for neonatal parenteral nutrition, greatly reducing risk of addiction in treating pain.

Foods containing omega-3s include fish and other seafood (cold-water fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel, tuna, herring and sardines), nuts and seeds (flaxseed, chia seeds and walnuts), and plant oils (flaxseed, soybean and canola oils).

A top research dental school

In all, Hargreaves has trained 23 post-doctoral fellows and 15 PhD, DDS/PhD or MD/PhD students, and has led the nation in training endodontist/PhD clinician-scientists. He has authored more than 200 peer-reviewed publications; and is co-author of the definitive authority on endodontics, Cohen’s Pathway to the Pulp, and editor-in-chief of the prestigious Journal of Endodontics.

While a senior staff fellow at NIH, he developed the “Hargreaves test” that’s now a standard test in preclinical pain research around the world. To date, it has been cited in about 5,900 publications.

Of Hargreaves’ time as chair of the endodontics department, Loomer said, “Dr. Hargreaves’ unwavering dedication and effective leadership played a pivotal role in elevating the department to one of the most esteemed in the country and helped lay the foundation for the School of Dentistry to become one of the nation’s top research dental schools.”

The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio), a primary driver of San Antonio’s $44.1 billion health care and biosciences sector, is the largest academic research institution in South Texas with an annual research portfolio of $413 million. Driving substantial economic impact with its six professional schools, a diverse workforce of more than 8,500, an annual expense budget of $1.46 billion and clinical practices that provide 2.6 million patient visits each year, UT Health San Antonio plans to add more than 1,500 higher-wage jobs over the next five years to serve San Antonio, Bexar County and South Texas. To learn about the many ways “We make lives better®,” visit UTHealthSA.org.

The UT Health San Antonio School of Dentistry offers 18 degrees and programs in both dentistry and dental hygiene, world-renown faculty educators, a diverse student population, state-of-the-art clinical facilities and a distinguished research enterprise. Departments include comprehensive dentistry, developmental dentistry, endodontics, periodontics, and oral and maxillofacial surgery. Scientists collaborate with clinicians and research teams worldwide, and work across multiple medical and dental disciplines to find new treatments, advancing knowledge of oral health, biomaterials, cancer, pain and more. To learn more, visit https://www.uthscsa.edu/academics/dental.

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