Judith A.
Jones, Principal Investigator
Dr.
Jones is Professor and Chair of the Department of General Dentistry at Boston University School of Dental Medicine.
Dr. Jones spends much of her time conducting geriatric oral research. She has made significant contributions to knowledge about long-term oral health care, oral health outcomes, and the relationship between oral and systemic diseases. Her current research focus is the development of dental outcome measures. In this research, she examined the relationship between clinical and self-report measures of oral health and the sensitivity and specificity of two, patient-based assessments in identifying the need for dental care. She also compared the validity of oral-specific, health-related, quality-of-life measures in users of VA care. In addition to serving as principal investigator of CREEDD project 1, "Pediatric Oral Health-Related Quality of Life", Dr. Jones is co-principal investigator for developmental work funded by Delta Dental Plans Associations, which is allowing her to test the quality-of-life measures longitudinally.
As principal investigator on VA IIR98.161: Variations in Dental Procedures, Dr. Jones developed oral health outcomes measures using the VA’s administrative databases. She presented data on the temporal and geographic stability of four quality-of-care indicators. Manuscripts are currently under review regarding development of novel, dental risk-adjustment methods and geographic and racial variations in dental care.
Dr. Jones is also principal investigator on VA QUERI 99.206: Periodontal Care and Glycemic Control in Diabetes. In this study she will test the efficacy of aggressive periodontal therapy in improving the level of glycemic control in poorly controlled diabetics. She will also examine whether continued maintenance over a 12-month period provides sustained or further improvement in glycemic control. Data collection continues in this project.
Dr. Jones served three years in the U.S. Public Health services then joined the VA-Bedford in 1983. She completed a Dentist-Geriatric Fellowship Program with the VA (Bedford and Boston OPC), directed the Geriatric Fellowship Program (1985-1992), the Geriatric Dental Program (1985-1994), and served as chief of the Dental Service from 1994-1998. She was awarded the VA Career Development Award in Health Services Research (1998-2001). She currently serves as Head of the Outcomes Section at the VA Center for Health Quality, Outcomes, and Economic Research and is principal investigator of CREEDD Project 1, "Pediatric Oral Health-Related Quality of Life".
