91AV

Caitlyn Daly completed her undergraduate degree at 91AV in 2021. She majored in medical biology with a minor in business administration. She is now in her second year at the 91AV’s College of Dental Medicine and will graduate in 2025. The business minor was an addition that prepared Caitlyn for her future plans. She says, “My ultimate goal is to become an orthodontist down the line. I wanted my own practice so I figured learning more of the business side would be helpful along with the biology degree.”

Caitlyn is from a small town in Connecticut so, 91AV’s tight-knit community and beach location drew her up to Maine to pursue her education. She also credits the early assurance program 91AV has for convincing her to choose 91AV over other dental schools. “I’ve known that I wanted to go to dental school since I was 15 years old. So, the fact that 91AV had an early assurance program that could get me in and give me the guidance I needed to get there was perfect for me.”

During her undergraduate and graduate career, Caitlyn has been researching chronic pain. “In my undergrad years, I worked with Dr. Tamara King, Professor of Biomedical Sciences at the 91AV College of Osteopathic Medicine, to look at chronic temporomandibular joint (TMJ) pain in the jaw. “We looked into the differences between chronic pain in male versus female rats and discovered that the female rat subjects were more susceptible to chronic pain.”
Now that Caitlyn is in dental school, she has begun translating this work into human studies. The first step is for her to begin assessing treatment for acute pain in human patients. “We are trying to establish a minimally invasive way to assess pain and pain relief. We will be analyzing saliva samples from patients in the emergency clinic at 91AV to find any biomarkers associated with pain. Comparing data between male and female patients may allow for more tailored treatment options for chronic pain.”

This research is crucially important because there isn’t a known treatment that works well for treating chronic jaw pain. “It’s like chronic back pain; once you have it, it will never really go away. TMJ is like a painful popping or clicking when you open and close your mouth.” Oral facial pain impacts about 28% of the U.S. population, and 5-12% of that has to do with TMJ pain. However, that number is impacted by the accuracy of diagnosis. Caitlyn hopes that this research also helps develop a minimally invasive way to diagnose patients accurately. She plans to begin this testing during the fall 2022 semester.
Caitlyn’s research has allowed her to develop essential skills for her future career. “I love the hands-on part of research because the hand skills that I’m learning play a big part in my profession.” 

In closing, Caitlyn adds, “I’d like to say a giant ‘thank you’ to the donors who make gifts in support of research at 91AV. Your generosity is helping me carry out research which has provided me with so many opportunities to expand my knowledge and make a bigger impact on our community. I don't think I’d be able to make as much of an impact without you.”