Dr. Flavia Teles Recognized with 2025 American Academy of Periodontology 2025 Clinical Research Award

December 5, 2025

 

hero image
(left to right) Mia L. Geisinger, DDS, MS, President, American Academy of Periodontology; Flavia Teles, DDS, MS, DMSc, Professor, Department of Basic & Translational Sciences, Penn Dental Medicine; and Alpdoğan Kantarci, DDS, PhD, CAGS, Professor and Chair, Department of Developmental and Surgical Sciences, University of Minnesota School of Dentistry.

Philadelphia — Dr. Flavia Teles, Professor in the Department of Basic & Translational Sciences, has been honored for her periodontal research as the recipient of the American Academy of Periodontology (AAP)’s 2025 Clinical Research Award.

The Award is presented for the most outstanding published work each year that offers direct clinical relevance in periodontics, presenting innovative insights that can be readily applied by practitioners in the evaluation and management of periodontal diseases. Dr. Teles was recognized as lead author for the paper, Salivary and serum inflammatory biomarkers during periodontitis progression and after treatment. J Clin Periodontol. Teles FRF, Chandrasekaran G, Martin L, et al. 2024 Dec;51(12):1619-1631.

The innovative insight of the study is the identification and validation of certain biomarkers that correlate with the progression of periodontitis and reflect the effectiveness of treatment. These findings offer practitioners:

  • Objective diagnostic tools: The potential for more objective measures of disease status beyond traditional clinical assessments.
  • Predictive capabilities: The ability to potentially predict disease progression in individual patients.
  • Personalized treatment monitoring: A way to monitor patient response to therapy at a molecular level, allowing for more personalized care plans.

Dr. Teles’s multidisciplinary program is redefining oral health through the convergence of microbiology, immunology, informatics, and clinical innovation—promising earlier detection, personalized treatment, and improved outcomes for patients worldwide. Dr. Teles is also a core member of the Center for Innovation & Precision Dentistry (CiPD), a joint institute with Penn’s School of Engineering, where she is developing innovative approaches to predict periodontal diseases using artificial intelligence and machine learning-guided data integration.

Dr. Teles leads a world-class research program focused on the oral microbiome, particularly the characterization of dysbiosis, a key event in periodontitis pathogenesis that is poorly defined and understood. Utilizing cutting-edge omics techniques, her lab aims to define the molecular markers of periodontitis progression that precede clinically detectable disease, so that more less invasive treatment can be provided and more effective preventive strategies can be devised.

“I am absolutely honored to have received this award,” says Dr. Teles. “It means so much to me to be recognized by the AAP for our clinical translational work. Further, to realize that my own mentor, Dr. Sig Socransky, received the same award in 2003, made this recognition even more special.”