Faculty profile
Joni Stephens: Excellence in research and teaching
By, Robert Kiger

If you mention the name Joni Stephens in the School of Dentistry, what instantly comes to

Very much at home in the research laboratory: Joni Stephens Professor, Dental Hygiene; Carlos Munoz, Director, Center for Dental Research (standing); and James Kettering, PhD, School of Medicine.

mind is the image of a smiling, caring, energetic, productive lady who has the love and respect of the entire faculty family.

Joni is truly a unique individual in terms of her personal characteristics, her skills as a faculty member, and the position of respect she has earned as a dental hygienist in a male-dominated, DDS-oriented, educational environment.

One of the unique talents Joni brings to her role as a faculty member is her total commitment and dedication to research. Dental hygienists are not offered the range of research and graduate education opportunities that accompany the traditional DDS and DDS/PhD programs. Therefore, to find a dental hygienist who has the ability to participate as an equal in the research arena is unusual. To find a dental hygienist who is respected by fellow faculty for her ability in the area of research, and to be asked to carry a major teaching load in that area is even more unusual.

Joni joined the faculty at Loma Linda University in 1969 following completion of the dental hygiene program here. Her interest in teaching took her to Columbia University in New York, where she received a MS degree in dental hygiene education in 1971. Joni returned to the School of Dentistry and her interest in education has kept her in the School since that time, including an appointment as chair of the department of dental hygiene from 1982 until 1993. She completed a EdS in higher education from La Sierra University in 1982.

Top photo: Joni Stephens joins Drs. Kettering and Munoz collecting water samples for one of their primary research interests, dental unit waterlines. In the next two photos, Joni demonstrates how much fun research can truly be!

Her interest in research developed gradually. Joni indicates that her first significant stimulus for research came in 1985. At that time she was a patient at the Medical Center’s radiation therapy unit, and as she became acquainted with other patients in the hospital, she realized many of those receiving head and neck radiation were also suffering from significant intraoral discomfort. Chlorhexidine rinses had not yet been approved by the FDA, but some supplies of that medication were available for research purposes. She worked with Dr. Jan Egelberg, director of the advanced education program in periodontics, and developed a research protocol to determine if the use of chlorhexidine rinses would help control some of the gingivitis and intraoral ulcerations related to head and neck radiation therapy. Jim Nethery, SD’65, aided in acquiring patients to participate in the study, and he also asked a local pharmacist to formulate an alcohol-free chlorhexidine which would be less painful to use. The results were positive and the use of chlorhexidine is now routinely prescribed to help control intraoral ulcerations in patients receiving head and neck radiation therapy.

Prior to this study, dental hygiene students had been involved in table clinic projects as part of their curriculum. Joni began to recognize a need to improve the quality of some of these projects, and she also wanted to have her students see how rewarding good research can be. She worked with Dr. Egelberg to develop a more rigorous research methodology course for the hygiene students, and over a period of years has expanded that course into a module covering three academic quarters. Now, hygiene students not only learn to evaluate the scientific literature, but also develop their own protocols, interact with the University Institutional Review Board in writing consent forms, and in carrying out their research designs. This all leads to student presentations of their findings at the School of Dentistry Alumni Student Conventions in February, and the annual sessions of the American Dental Hygiene Association.

Joni continued to develop her own personal interest in research. In 1988, she collaborated with Dr. Ralph Feller and Robert Kiger, SD’70, on a clinical study involving 3,000 subjects testing the clinical efficacy of Total™ (Colgate-Palmolive) toothpaste. Data from this study was used in Colgate’s submission for FDA approval prior to marketing of that product in the mid-1990s. Additional research collaboration with Dr. Kiger led to the completion of a series of three studies for Atrix Laboratories on evaluation of their Atridox™ pocket therapy product.

Joni continues to be actively involved as a member of the School of Dentistry Center for Dental Research team, and has been involved in other studies with Dr. Carlos Munoz, Dr. Yiming Li, Dr. Jim Kettering, and Gary Bogle, SD’69, MS’73.

As a result of her efforts with the dental hygiene table clinic projects, Loma Linda University dental hygiene students soon began to develop a reputation in the research arena. Table clinic competitions at CDA and ADHA meetings were routinely swept by Loma Linda students. It wasn’t long before some of Joni’s colleagues in the dental school realized she could be instrumental in the dental student projects also.

In 1996, Joni adapted her research methodology course and began teaching it to the dental students as well as to the dental hygiene students. Working with other faculty such as Dr. Fred Berry, Dr. Jim Kettering, Dr. George Lessard, Dr. Yiming Li, and Dr. Carlos Munoz to name only a few, she began to leave her mark on the dental student projects. Joni has continued to demonstrate to students the idea that research is not only rigorous but can be fun and rewarding as well.

Currently the School of Dentistry is in the unusual position of having a dental hygiene faculty member being the primary force behind the dental student research projects. This is testament to Joni’s enthusiasm and love of teaching as much as it is a reflection of her genuine skill in the area of generating research ideas and teaching research methods. Loma Linda University School of Dentistry has always had a good track record in ADA table clinic competitions, and that record continues under Joni’s tutelage.

Loma Linda students continue to place well in all table clinic competitions that they enter. A discussion with Dr. Jack Conley, editor, California Dental Association Journal editor, several years ago led to his agreeing to publish abstracts of winning table clinic projects at the CDA convention in the CDA Journal. Dental hygiene and dental student projects have led to publication of scientific articles in the CDA Journal, Journal of Periodontology, and Journal of the American Dental Hygiene Association with regularity.

While Joni has reason to be proud of her accomplishments in the area of dental research, she is quick to point out that it is the result of a group effort on the part of many LLU faculty. She is quick to give credit especially to Dr. Jim Kettering and Dr. Carlos Munoz, who each year serve as sponsors for multiple projects for both hygiene and dental students. Obviously, this effort has grown beyond what any one person could manage by themselves, but there is no denying who the moving force has been for the past 10 years.

Joni is a truly unique person because of her ability to combine scientific interest and ability with personal charm and enthusiasm. She has the ability to make working with her fun, and that is why she is so special as a faculty member here at Loma Linda University.

Robert D. Kiger, SD'70, MS'85, is professor and chair of periodontics. He enjoys biking, and developed this story while riding; he cut his trip short to complete the article

Editor's note: Joni Stephens would liked to thank Dr. Jan Egelberg who she first worked with in the 1970's, and Dr. Robert Kiger who also has been a mentor. Both have been motivating factors in her research activities.

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