About

Kadambari Rawal is a Clinical Associate Professor of General Dentistry at the Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine. She holds an MSD in Dental Public Health and a CAGS in Advanced Education in General Dentistry from the same institution, obtained in 2018 and 2010 respectively. She also earned a BDS from Dr. D.Y. Patil School of Dentistry in India in 2009. Her professional role involves teaching and practicing general dentistry, with a focus on preventive and restorative dental care. She is affiliated with the Department of General Dentistry and contributes to the academic and clinical missions of the dental school.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Gerontology
• Medicine
• Political Science
• Psychiatry
• Family medicine
• Demography
• Environmental health
• Pathology
• Dentistry

Selected publications

• Undergraduate and Postgraduate Special Needs Dentistry Curricula for Oral Health Therapists: A Delphi Study

  Journal of Dental Education · 2026-04-29

  articleOpen access

  AIM: To develop a consensus-based curriculum outline for special needs dentistry (SND) tailored to oral health therapists (OHTs), ensuring relevance and applicability across undergraduate and postgraduate education in Australia. METHODS: A four-round online modified Delphi study was conducted. The first three rounds involved both Australian and international experts, while the final consensus round was limited to Australian experts. Experts were selected using purposive sampling based on their experience in SND education, clinical practice, or curriculum development. Participants completed semi-structured surveys derived from publicly accessible learning outcomes (LOs) in student handbooks of undergraduate oral health programs and postgraduate SND specialist programs. Additional insights were drawn from the International Association for Disability & Oral Health (iADH) and the Australian Dental Council (ADC) competency guidelines. Across the rounds, experts rated the importance of proposed LOs, identified their appropriate educational level (undergraduate/postgraduate), and provided qualitative feedback. Consensus was defined a priori as ≥ 70% agreement. Modifications were made between rounds based on expert feedback. RESULTS: In Round 1, 24 experts completed, with 66 of 67 LOs reaching consensus. In Round 2, 20 experts assessed 98 LOs (including new and revised items, categorized into undergraduate and postgraduate), with 96 (97.9%) reaching consensus. Round 3 involved 16 experts reviewing unresolved and newly added items; two items did not reach consensus. The final round resulted in consensus on all outstanding LOs and confirmed the overall framework's relevance to the OHT scope and context. Key refinements across rounds included improved clarity in applying Bloom's Taxonomy, clearer undergraduate/postgraduate differentiation, and increased specificity to SND. CONCLUSION: This Delphi study established expert consensus on a comprehensive set of LOs, along with suggested learning activities and assessment tasks. The proposed curriculum framework supports integration of evidence-informed SND education into OHT programs, which has the potential to enhance workforce preparedness to deliver equitable care to people with disability and additional health care needs.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Co-design of an oral health toolkit for long-term care facilities to improve oral health among older adults in long term care

  OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) · 2026-03-25

  other
  Publisher

• The need to address Oral Health concerns for End of Life patients in Long Term Care

  Innovation in Aging · 2025-12-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract To understand dental service utilization by frail older adults in a long-term care (LTC) setting in the last 2 years of their life and the characteristics that may be predictors of ‘higher dental service utilization’, a retrospective cohort study was conducted by chart review of LTC patients at 2 sites who had a dental visit in the 2 year period prior to death. Based on the number of dental appointments attended prior to death, the patients were categorized into five groups. A multivariate logistic regression model was created to identify the factors associated with higher dental service utilization. The study found that 84% of patients who died in the study period, utilized on-site dental services in the last 2 years of their life. Approximately 66% had 3 or more dental appointments. Multivariate analysis suggested that Medicaid beneficiaries were more likely to have a higher utilization of dental services than the others. Diagnostic (including emergency & palliative) and preventive procedures were most often performed and denture related procedures (including fabricating new dentures) were commonly performed too. This study showed that a large percentage of frail older adults utilized dental services even in the last years of their lives when given access to these services. As people are living longer and retaining their teeth longer, there is a rising need and subsequent demand for end-of-life dental services. Certain administrative and policy implementation strategies need to be developed to provide dental services to LTC patients in the last years of their lives.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Estimation of Oral Disease Burden among Older Adults in LTC: A Scoping Review

  International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · 2024 · 10 citations

  • Medicine
  • Gerontology
  • Dentistry

  Oral health is an essential part of healthy aging and very little data exists around the disease burden for older adults in a long-term care setting. The aim of this scoping review was to estimate the disease burden of dental caries, periodontal disease, and tooth loss among older adults in Long-Term Care (LTC). This scoping review was conducted in accordance with the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology. A detailed strategy was used to conduct a comprehensive search of electronic databases: PubMed, Embase, and Dentistry and Oral Sciences Source (DOSS). The Rayyan AI platform was used to screen abstracts for assessment by one of five co-investigators. Results indicate that only one in three might have a functional dentition upon entry into LTC, and among those who are dentate, most might expect to develop at least one new coronal and one new root caries lesion each year. There is a need to better document the disease experiences of this group to tailor approaches to care that might reduce the avoidable suffering as a result of dental caries and periodontal disease.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Current oral health services and the divergent needs of the baby boom cohorts

  Special Care in Dentistry · 2023-01-23

  article1st authorCorresponding

  The two cohorts of Baby Boomers, the Early (born between 1945 and 1955) and the Late (born between 1956 and 1964), have some subtle yet distinct differences when it comes to their oral health and oral health related behaviors. Unlike their predecessors, the Baby Boomer cohorts are retaining more teeth, as there is a sharp fall in edentulous rates in this population. The oral health care community is now facing unparalleled challenges in providing and maintaining the oral health of this unique cohort who are keeping their teeth longer, have multiple comorbidities, and are living longer than previous generations. This paper draws from the latest studies, scientific data and research to describe a realistic picture of the oral health services available to and utilized by the Baby Boomers. The factors affecting utilization, their rising needs, demands, expectations, and areas where improvement is needed for the Baby Boomer are also reported here.

  PublisherDOI

• Patient Decision-Making Capacity

  The Journal of the American Dental Association · 2023-10-24

  letter
  PublisherDOI

• Demographics and Oral Health Care Utilization for Older Adults

  Clinics in Geriatric Medicine · 2023-04-10 · 4 citations

  reviewSenior authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Saving Senior Smiles: A Community Outreach Educational Program and Pilot Research Project

  Innovation in Aging · 2021-12-01

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Abstract Globally, poor oral health has been evidenced more frequently among older adults. Thus, it is imperative to develop strategies for improving the oral health knowledge and access to dental care amongst the older adult population. The Saving Senior Smiles (S3) pilot outreach program was launched as an oral health education and awareness program for community-dwelling older adults across senior centers in the greater Boston area (Massachusetts, USA). The outreach consisted of oral health educational seminars presented by pre- doctoral dental students from three dental schools in the Boston area. The presentations highlighted the significance of oral health, and the importance of seeking routine dental care. Pre and post-test surveys were administered to assess the participants’ utilization of oral health services and oral health knowledge. The surveys were completed by 85 older adults (Female= 58.8%) across five senior centers. Questions pertaining to utilization of dental services revealed that 78.8% of the participants had a dentist. Expectedly, the center that reported the greatest number of missing teeth (Fenway center= 70.6%) had the least number of individuals who had a dentist (58.3%). With regard to oral health knowledge, before the seminars, less than half of the participants (42.2% ) across all the senior centers were aware of the common oral conditions that affected older adults ( dry mouth, gum recession and changes in oral bacteria) and after the presentation over 60% of the participants responded correctly to these knowledge questions. Overall, these findings emphasize the value of simple community-based interventions for older adults.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Demographics and Oral Health Care Utilization for Older Adults

  Dental Clinics of North America · 2021 · 14 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Political Science
  • Sociology
  • Gerontology
  PublisherDOI

• End of life dental service utilization by geriatric patients in a long-term care setting

  OpenBU/Boston University Institutional Repository (Boston University) · 2018-01-01 · 1 citations

  dissertation1st authorCorresponding

  OBJECTIVE: To understand dental service utilization by frail older adults residing in a long-term care (LTC) setting in the last two years of their life. To understand the types of dental services utilized by this demographic, the frequency of utilization and determine the characteristics that may be predictors of ‘higher dental service utilization’.
\nMETHODS: A retrospective cohort study was conducted by an electronic chart review of all LTC patients at two sites who died between 11/1/2014 - 12/30/2016 and had a dental visit in the two-year period prior to death, resulting in a sample of 369 patients. Based on the number of dental appointments attended prior to death, the patients were categorized into five groups: 0,1-2,3-5,6-9 and10 or more appointments. A multivariate logistic regression model was created to identify the factors associated with higher dental service utilization. 
\nRESULT: The study found that 84% of patients who died in the study period, utilized on-site dental services in the last two years of their life. Approximately 66% had 3 or more dental appointments. Diagnostic and preventive procedures were most commonly utilized (utilized by 81% and 73% of patients respectively). Multivariate analysis suggested that dentate patients and patients wearing removable dental prosthesis were about 7 and 12 times more likely respectively to have a higher utilization of dental services (OR=6.5 and OR=11.7). Medicaid beneficiaries were more likely (OR=1.9) to have a higher utilization of dental services than the others.
\nCONCLUSIONS: This study showed that a large percentage of frail older adults utilized dental services even in the last years of their lives when given access to these services. As people are living longer and retaining their teeth longer, there is a rising need and subsequent demand for end-of-life dental services. Certain administrative and policy implementation strategies need to be developed to provide dental services to LTC patients in the last years of their lives.

  Publisher

Frequent coauthors

• Joseph M. Calabrese

  Boston University

  25 shared

• Ernest I. Mandel

  Harvard University

  2 shared

• Amrita Tembhe

  Boston University

  1 shared

• Gheed Alqunaybit

  Boston University

  1 shared

• Alaa Husni Qari

  Dubai Health Authority

  1 shared

• Bathsheba Turton

  Boston University

  1 shared

• Michelle Henshaw

  Boston University

  1 shared

• Prajakta Joshi

  Boston University

  1 shared