Biography

Dr. Robert Schroth is a PhD student in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the University of Manitoba. Bob graduated from the Faculty of Dentistry at the University of Manitoba in 1996 with his Doctor of Dental Medicine. Following graduation, he was in clinical practice with the City of Winnipeg’s community dental programs and later with the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority’s pediatric dental program (SMILE). Both programs provided dental care to those with limited access to dental care. In 1998, he returned to the University of Manitoba to serve as its undergraduate pediatric dentistry clinic coordinator until 2000.

In August 2003, he completed his Masters of Science in the Department of Community Health Sciences. He received two years of fellowship support from the Children's Hospital Foundation of Manitoba Inc, including the Harry Medovy Postdoctoral Fellowship.

Bob’s research is to assess whether factors in the prenatal environment can predispose children to be at risk of developing Early Childhood Caries (ECC). He is particularly interested in whether vitamin D deficiencies during pregnancy lead to enamel hypoplasia, a known risk factor for ECC. By recruiting expectant women during pregnancy, he hopes to follow mother and infant pairs prospectively to assess the child’s dental development. His research work is supported by grants from the Manitoba Medical Service Foundation, Dentistry Canada Fund, the Children's Hospital Foundation of Manitoba Inc. and the Faculty of Dentistry.

He is also involved in other epidemiological investigations of ECC in the province and is a volunteer member of the Manitoba Collaborative Project for the Prevention of Early Childhood Tooth Decay. Bob has recently received an Endowment Fund Award from the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Dentistry to undertake a systematic review of risk factors for ECC and to conduct an epidemiological study of ECC in southern Manitoba. In addition to his graduate training and research activities, Bob finds a few hours a week to provide dental care at Mount Carmel Clinic, a primary health care facility in the heart of Winnipeg.

At the conclusion of his doctoral award, Dr. Schroth was recruited by the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Manitoba, Assistant Professor.  Dr. Schroth was recently awarded a MMSF/MHRC Clinical Research Professorship in Population Medicine.