2026 Miller Lecture: The Mouth as a Mirror of Human Health
About This Event
“The Mouth as a Mirror of Human Health” explores how oral tissues provide powerful insights into overall well-being. Drawing from cutting-edge single-cell, spatial, and clinical research, Kevin Matthew Byrd highlights how the mouth reflects systemic diseases, from infections like COVID-19 to chronic inflammatory and cancer states. This talk emphasizes the mouth’s role as both a diagnostic window and a therapeutic gateway for precision medicine.
Objectives:
– Recognize the role of the oral cavity as a diagnostic window into systemic health and disease.
– Explain how oral tissues and saliva contribute to pathogen detection, immune signaling, and systemic disease progression.
– Identify links between oral conditions (e.g., periodontitis, viral infections) and broader systemic outcomes.
– Evaluate emerging technologies such as single-cell and spatial multiomics for studying oral–systemic connections.
– Apply knowledge of oral–systemic interactions to inform strategies for prevention, diagnosis, and precision medicine.
Note: VCU ADA CERP recognition; 2 CE credits.
Learning Objectives
- Recognize the role of the oral cavity as a diagnostic window into systemic health and disease
- Explain how oral tissues and saliva contribute to pathogen detection, immune signaling, and systemic disease progression
- Identify links between oral conditions (e.g., periodontitis, viral infections) and broader systemic outcomes
- Evaluate emerging technologies such as single-cell and spatial multiomics for studying oral–
- systemic connections
- Apply knowledge of oral–
- systemic interactions to inform strategies for prevention, diagnosis, and precision medicine.